


Doing the Right Thing

by Djapchan



Category: Storm Hawks
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drama, F/F, F/M, First Time, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-20
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-22 14:37:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 35,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4839146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Djapchan/pseuds/Djapchan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the Storm Hawks came back through the gate, bringing their enemies as prisoners with them, only to discover, that their world has changed so much that they didn’t know anymore what was the right or the wrong side of their former war?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Discoveries

**Author's Note:**

> This is another old story I moved to this archive. This one was initially started in September and finished in October 2009

*~*~*

Doing the right thing

A Djap story

*~*~*

 

PART ONE: Discoveries

*~*~*

The former Master Cyclonis was sitting in her room on the Condor and waited for the Storm Hawks to come to her. She knew they must have passed the dimension door by now, which they had produced with her help.

She awaited her fate with as much dignity as she could muster, although she felt fear rising within her. She wasn’t the same since the Storm Hawks had found her on that Terra in the other dimension. In that new world and far away from her earlier duties she had discovered parts of herself, she hadn’t known existed.

Even when Dark Ace, whom she had believed long dead, found her, she couldn’t get back to what she’d been born to be. Somehow, by getting defeated and losing her home Terra she had changed. Suddenly she felt free, and she could make her own choices for the first time. 

She had loved her parents, with all her heart, and knew that they had returned these feelings too. But she had been the only heir they had – she had no choice but to be prepared for her destiny.

But by fleeing to that other world, she could discover for the first time who she really was. She had actually made friends with people there. With the exception of Dark Ace, whom she considered a dear friend since he had become her bodyguard when she was still very little, and the brief episode she had with Piper right at the start of her life as ruler of Cyclonia, something like that had never happened before.

She had lived with those people just as any other teenage girl, doing all the normal things she’d always dreamed of doing. She had been delighted when Dark Ace found her, and had invited him to do the same. She still wasn’t sure about it. Although he had still kept watching out for her, he also seemed to have enjoyed their freedom in that new world.

But like everything good that happened to her so far, this had been doomed all along. She knew that, she had just hoped her luck would last a little longer. But then, finally, the Storm Hawks had found them. They were going to bring them back to their respective trials which undoubtedly waited for them in Atmos.

Dark Ace had wanted to fight for their freedom, but she had sighed and stopped him. The little freedom they’d had was already tainted by The Storm Hawk’s appearance. She didn’t want to fight anymore.

So she made her own decision and told Dark Ace to do the same. She let herself get captured without a fight and was slightly surprised when her former servant did the same. It wasn’t in Dark Ace’s nature to go down without a fight and she told him so. He had just looked grim and answered that for such a long time, his only reason to live had been to protect her. He wouldn’t leave her now.

*~*~*

At first the Storm Hawks had been suspicious of their prisoners but after half a month in which nothing bad had happened, they started to relax.

One day, Piper had stood right in the door of the room which Master Cyclonis considered her cell, and held a bracelet in her hand, inset with different crystals. She came into the room and gave it to her. Without another word of explanation the former Master Cyclonis needed about 30 seconds guess its function.

“It’s a transmitter. With that you’ll always know, where I am.”

“Yes.” Piper nodded. “Will you wear it? It has a lock you won’t be able to open yourself, so it will be permanent, but I won’t force you because you have been cooperative so far and I believe you’ll keep being so.”

She didn’t hesitate for even a second. She just took a breath and put it around her wrist without another word. Still, she was curious why they hadn’t given these out earlier, so she dared to ask the girl:

“Why should we start wearing these now? We haven’t tried to break out, have we?”

“Because you weren’t allowed to leave your room before. But since you’ve cooperated so far, we thought we could give you a little more freedom. We all think that being in the same room on the Condor must be driving you mad. After all, it would drive us mad. Besides…”

“Yes?”

“I can’t yet figure out a way to bring us back to Atmos without your help. I probably will, but the longer it takes…”

“The longer we have to stay here imprisoned on this ship. So you’re giving us a treat in exchange for me sharing information with you about how to get back.”

Piper nodded earnestly.

“What makes you think, Piper, that I would want to help you? If you bring us back, there won’t be that much of a change in Dark Ace’s or my situation. We’ll stay prisoners and it’s no difference to us if we’re here or on Atmosia in cells, don’t you think?”

Piper just shrugged at that and refused to answer.

The Former Master Cyclonis sighed again.

“So let’s get to work then, shall we?”

But Piper wasn’t finished yet. “First we should go over to Dark Ace’s room, to give him his own bracelet. I came to you first, because I feared he wouldn’t react well if I tried to talk to him alone. He has been unresponsive so far and Aerrow said that this situation must be even more depressing for him, since he was born to fly like Aerrow himself. He had tried his luck earlier, but like always he was simply ignored.”

The former Master Cyclonis had to smile at that and stated confidently: 

“Well, he can sure be obstinate and he pouts nicely when something goes against his will.”

To her surprise the other girl giggled at her words and she returned the smile baffled.

“So come on Cyclonis, I’m sure he won’t keep pouting if it’s half an order from his master.”

That made the former Master Cyclonis sad. Her features darkened again before she stated as sincerely as she could: “I’m not his master anymore. He decided to stay at my side out of his own free will, not because I ordered him to.”

Piper gave her an odd look at those words, but the former Master Cyclonis ignored it and continued in earnest: “And I would ask you to not address me that way again. At least not as long we’re still in this world. I know things will change when we get back to Atmos, but I would like to get called by my real name.”

“And what name would that be?” Piper asked, curious.

“You know it already. I’m pretty sure you haven’t forgotten it, because you’re too bright for that.” The former Master Cyclonis looked slightly embarrassed at what she had just said, but she defiantly refused to take it back.

“I didn’t think you had told me your real name, Lark. But now let’s see about Dark Ace, he should get some fresh air too.”

*~*~*

The imprisonment on the Condor hadn’t been as bad as they had feared it would be. They had gotten rooms right beside each other and they had been able to talk with each other through the energy fields, if the doors stayed open. They had gotten plenty to eat three times a day, and each of their cells had a tiny bathroom they could use. After a third day with nothing to do, they had even gotten some books from their wardens, so they could even read.

And that was how Piper and Lark found the other prisoner, when they opened the door to his room. He lay on his bed and held a book in his hands, seemingly engrossed by the story. Both young women knew better though, and after he heard the clear voice of his master he looked up, lifting a questioning eyebrow in surprise.

She motioned towards her wrist and he understood right away. They explained the deal to him, but he just snorted and got back to reading.

“I’m not interested. Go away.”

Then he heard something jingle and his curiosity got the better out of him: In Pipers hands dangled the keys for a skimmer and while he wasn’t sure what that would mean, hope still reared its ugly head inside of him.

“Aerrow told me you probably would like to take a ride. These are the keys to our spare skimmer, but I think it’ll probably suffice. After all you are known to be the best fighter pilot, to ever fly in Atmos. So what do you say?”

He really wanted to get left alone, but the damn girl was right. At this point he’d die for the slightest chance to fly, even for just a few seconds. So he stood and took the bracelet and the keys.

He tried to be haughty about it, but failed miserably by nearly running to the skimmer bay. When he felt the wind around his head and his eyes water from his daring manoeuvres, he thought that the deal was worth it – at least for the time being.

*~*~*

Lark had been able to move around freely on her own (at least during the daytime – at night, with just one watch, they asked her to go back to her cell, but she didn’t mind, she needed a room to sleep in as well, so why shouldn’t she use this one?) for about three weeks now, but now she had finally hid herself in her room. 

She feared the trials and the return to Atmos. They could do much more than simply send her to prison: they could sentence her to death –she tried to be brave in the face of imminent life danger, but somehow she wasn’t in the way she wanted to be.

As she had expected it was Piper who finally came looking for her. But when Piper arrived, Lark could see that something was wrong right away.

“What is it? Did something go wrong? Were our calculations wrong?”

“Not directly. We… I… Lark, I’m sorry, I really am. But I can’t tell you what’s wrong. You should really come and see for yourself.”

So she braced herself by taking a deep breath, stood and followed the girl.

*~*~*

“Oh my god!”

Lark felt like crying, and as Aerrow reached the bridge of the condor with Dark Ace, she heard his sharp intake of breath and knew he was as shocked as her. 

Finn was the one who finally started speaking again:

“But we were gone for about what? 14 months? There’s no way…” 

He didn’t know how to finish the sentence and Lark couldn’t blame him. It touched something deep inside her that even the Storm Hawks seemed to grieve for what they saw. Somehow she had expected that if they saw something like this, the Storm Hawks would react with laughter and malicious pleasure. But they didn’t and although she was sure there was nothing what could make this better for her, she somehow felt touched by it. 

She hadn’t known she was shivering until she felt a reassuring touch on her shoulder. She knew it was Dark Ace, trying to be there for her in her grieve, but she felt herself dying inside.

Yes, she had never cared much for her home Terra, because it had held too many obligations for her, but it had still been her home and her inheritance. She might not have thought so when she fought against the Sky Knights and tried to rule whole Atmos, but she was thinking so now.

“Uh guys?” Stork spoke into the silence and interrupted their musings. “You should probably look at that.” He pointed to the clock and all of them gasped in shock. 

“This can’t be!” Aerrow jumped to the clock and lightly knocked on it, trying to shake it. But the time pulse wasn’t lying and finally Lark was able to speak:

“I expected there to be a difference, but I hadn’t thought it would be this much.”

“But ten years! That’s impossible…” Finn couldn’t believe it and continued babbling until Dark Ace cut him off: “Obviously, it isn’t. It’s always dangerous to work with crystals. I thought you would have learned that by now.”

Lark knew this remark wasn’t meant for her, but still she shivered as she heard it. Dark Ace, whose hand hadn’t left its place yet, gripped her shoulder in what she understood as an excuse for her. She shook her head slightly to show that she had understood how he had meant it. She took some steps towards to the windows of the bridge and touching the glass with her hands. She pressed her face to it to get a fuller view.

They had returned as she had calculated at the same spot where they had left right in front of Terra Cyclonia. But there was nothing even resembling a Terra anymore. Half of the Terra seemed to have been blasted away by some really strong energy weapon and with it, all cities.

Her castle had gone as well, although there seemed to be at least some walls left. The rest lay in ruins, seemingly dead for many years. The Storm Hawks felt as if they looked again at Terra Deep and somehow expected Murk Raiders to appear on the horizon.

When finally a ship did arrive – to them out of nowhere - it was big and made them gape like fishes out of their precious water. Stork wasn’t sure how he had been able to overlook such a large cruiser, but when he checked his instruments again, he realised that the ship didn’t show up on his instruments. He instantly started to panic: Had mind worms gotten him after all?

“How can this be?” Aerrow was dumbstruck and ordered Stork to escape as the strange ship hailed them. This was just too creepy to believe. The ship wore the typical Cyclonian colours, red and dark green and it looked exactly like the battle cruiser Snipe had built for himself before they had completely trashed it. 

But all of them were sure, that this couldn’t be, since Cyclonia must have fallen 10 years ago. Then they saw the Flag and couldn’t believe it anymore: It wore the signs of the Sky Knights of Atmosia.

But even more unbelievable was the thing the ship did when the Storm Hawks finally tried to answer the hailing: they opened fire on them.

*~*~*

“I can’t believe it!” Aerrow was still agitated about all this. “Why did they fire on us? We’re Sky Knights too, after all.”

“Yeah, but they probably didn’t believed us, since we disappeared more than ten years ago.” Piper pointed out reasonably.

“Be that as it may, why start to fire? Why not come and talk to us at first? They knew the Condor was no match for them.”

He was right about that. Only Stork’s abilities to fly the Condor, Lark’s abilities to use a disappearing crystal and the fact that they had had some damn good luck allowed them to escape the ambush at all.

Now they landed on the surface of the battered Terra, still invisible to the battle cruiser’s radar. They hoped the battle cruiser wouldn’t find them here, as long as Lark could keep the shield up. Dark Ace was watching over his master, because the production of such a large shield was tiring, even for her.

Finally, when she just couldn’t hold it up anymore she grabbed for Dark Ace, who went instantly to his knees and caught his falling master, ready to fold the small figure in his arms. She was glad she had held out long enough for the Sky Knights on the Battle Cruiser lose interest in them.

Just as Lark collapsed they vanished faster than anyone of them had seen a ship do so before. Obviously ship technologies had developed a lot over the last ten years in Atmos.

“Is she alright?” Piper and Aerrow had both come to the Cyclonians and offered their help. Dark Ace ignored them and stood without help, taking Lark in his arms. “She’ll be fine. She just needs rest now. I’ll bring her to her room.”

“Yeah of course. If you need anything, just tell us, okay?”

The tall man nodded absently, his attention divided between Aerrow and sorrow for his master.

“Oh, and Dark Ace?”

“Yes?”

“If she sleeps you can join us here, if you want. We need all the help we can get, for this.”

He nodded and then turned abruptly to see to his master.

*~*~*

“I still don’t understand why they were using a Cyclonian battle cruiser of all things. I mean, the war should be over, right? There should be no need for them.” Finn didn’t know what else to add and just punched his fist into the wall. The pain helped to relieve some of his tension.

They were talking in circles until Dark Ace spoke up. He had been sitting quietly so far, listening to them.

“Is it really so hard for you to believe, that there could be another force who wanted to rule all of Atmos? Is it really so hard to believe that there could have been Sky Knights fallen to their own Dark side?” He smirked knowingly before he continued: “It has been known to happen before.”

He crossed his arms and kept smirking while protests exploded around him. Nearly all the Storm Hawks were protesting that this would never be happen, even Radarr was chattering and growling at him, with one exception. 

To the Talon Commander’s surprise it was their leader Aerrow who was silent and finally made them stop the babbling by yelling at them: “Quiet now! All of you! Screaming and arguing won’t be able to help us in any way. Besides, he has a point. I find this all highly suspicious and I don’t think we should try to contact them before we have gotten more information.”

“But how can we get more information? They tried to shoot us a minute ago.” Junko pointed out.

“Good question. Any suggestions?”

“Guys?” Again it was Stork who brought them some interesting news.

“What is it?” Aerrow was instantly on his feet and went over to his helmsman.

“The Terra probably isn’t as dead as it looks. Since the cruiser disappeared I got some really interesting readings from my sensors. At first I thought I was imaging things, but I’m pretty sure now that there are people living here in these ruins.”

“We should investigate that.” Aerrow was instantly on his way to the hanger when he suddenly stopped and turned to the rest of his team with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“I know…” he started saying “this might be the worst idea I’ve ever had, but I think, Dark Ace and Lark should come with us. This is their home after all, and I think they have a right to say goodbye to it before we give them to the Atmosians.”

To Aerrow’s surprise everyone seemed to be okay with that, probably because they all were still shocked by the state they had found this Terra in. Even Stork didn’t take the chance to point out impending doom. Aerrow signed for the rest of them to follow him to Lark’s room to see if she would be fit enough to come with them. 

*~*~*

“This place is really creepy.” Finn shuddered, his crossbow wobbling while he held it nervously in front of himself.

He was right – the ruins were really creepy. But even more disturbing were the looks on the usual stony faces of their prisoners. They went at the centre of the group because the Storm Hawks hadn’t been stupid enough to give them any weapons. They seemed to be in agony over the look of their beloved home Terra. They had given the impression that they had changed and they behaved differently on the other side of the dimension door – every Storm Hawk had felt it - but faced with this they looked downright human. 

Human and weak and hurting very deeply but none of the Storm Hawks commented on it, although they would have had enough reason to do so in the past. Instead they just kept exploring the ruins and got directions over their radios from Stork, to where he’d seen the latest life sources.

Somewhere along the way they stumbled over something which looked like a mass grave and Finn actually retched at the view, not able to hold back, while Lark burrowed her head in Dark Ace’s chest. No Storm Hawk would have been able to point out how weak she looked like that because they were occupied with their own sense of impending horror.

The grave looked as if someone had wanted to bury the bodies, but had been disturbed while doing it – probably dying only seconds after. They were only bones left, but it was still a horror to look at, since most of them are still wearing their clothes – their civilian clothes, no uniforms there – and they could even see the skeletons of children lying around.

They passed it as quickly as they could and headed for something which looked like a big cave entrance. When they went inside they found it was more along the lines of a cave system, because it was surely made by human hands. They got deeper into its shadows, with only some crystals as light sources.

Somewhere along the way the cave branched in several directions and when they followed one, they kept finding more and more. Stork’s voice grew thinner and thinner, as they proceeded deeper under the surface of the Terra. 

It was hot in here, and the air was musty and dry, but finally they saw the first signs of life. There were new footprints to be found in the sand of the floor and they hurried up the trail.

*~*~*

“Stop there, you filthy Sky Knight scum. You won’t be able to beat us this time!”

They came to an abrupt halt when their enemies closed in on them. Suddenly they were everywhere and it was a real surprise to the Storm Hawks to find how quietly and efficiently they had been surrounded.

Still no Storm Hawk activated their weapon. Somehow they didn’t expect their enemies to hurt them. That might have something to do with the fact that they were looking at children, with no grown-ups to in sight.

All of them looked really scared. They were dirty and gripped their weapons (which consisted of mostly stones, clubs, which were made out of wood and old fashioned crossbows) clearly fearing for their life. They didn’t wear anything resembling real clothes only some rags and some of them looked ill.

The boy who had spoken looked about ten or eleven years old. He had brown hair and eyes and looked defiantly at them.

“Don’t move or I’ll swear we’ll kill you this time!”

Aerrow lifted his hands and slowly made his way forward before he spoke to the leader:

“Please wait. We’re not here to harm you in any way…”

The boy snorted and looked grim before answering:

“Yeah, sure. Stop right there or you’ll regret it!”

Aerrow did as he was told and tried to look as small as he could make himself while the boy continued:

“You say that every time and still you’re here again to take our leaders away. We won’t allow it to happen anymore!”

“But…”

But before Aerrow could say anything a new group of people arrived in the passage and this time they all looked more like teens.

“Sev, what are you doing there? Stop it right now. I won’t allow you to endanger any more children!”

The boy turned around and instantly started defending himself while all the other children started to flee.

The Storm Hawks watched silently while the leader of the new group, a girl with blonde hair and green eyes, started scolding the boy, which she had called Sev.

“Stop babbling, Sev. You promised not to do something like that again. You know that this will nothing change. Only children will get hurt and I won’t allow it anymore. We have to accept our fate, and someday soon you have to do the same, when it’s your time’s to lead us.”

Suddenly the boy ran to her and hugged her tight, burrowing his face in her rags and trying to hide the fact that he was bawling his eyes out.

“But I don’t want you to go! I won’t let them take you!”

“Shush, it’s not my time yet. And now go, we have to do our duty.”

Finally, the boy sniffed and nodded his head, before leaving as he’d been told, but not without looking one last time at the Storm Hawks with his eyes full of hate.

The young girl finally walked towards them and bowed deeply, which wasn’t easy for her, since she was obviously pregnant.

“You are early, Sky Knights, we expected you to come back in two months. I hope very much you won’t want to kill the boy for his behaviour. When it’s his time, I’m sure he’ll be a good slave to you, so if you want revenge, I beg you to punish me instead, but of course it’s your decision how you punish us for our misbehaviour.”

Aerrow made some steps to her and tried to help her up, but she flinched right away, obviously expecting to get beaten, but trying desperately not to show her fear and her wish to shelter the unborn life she was carrying in her belly.

The Redhead understood his fault by trying to help and instead tried to reach the girl with words:

“Please, you mistake us for someone else. We don’t even know who you are and why these kids tried to attack us.”

“But, I don’t understand…” The girl seemed at a loss for words, so one of her companions, a teenage boy with black hair and black eyes continued for her: “Aren’t you Sky Knights? You wear the right uniforms…”

Piper came to Aerrow’s help and smiled as nicely as she could at them: “Yes, we are Sky Knights – at least that’s what we have been called years ago.”

“If you’re Sky Knights, you must be here to take the old ones.”

Aerrow started talking again: “Listen, we really don’t know who you are. Something very strange happened and we haven’t been in Atmos for the last ten years. We really don’t know about any other Sky Knights except that they attacked us with what looked like a Cyclonian Battle Cruiser. When we saw that someone was still living here, we hoped you could help us explain why our beloved Atmos has changed so much.”

They could see that they didn’t believe a word, but they still lead them back to their village. The Storms Hawks and their two Cyclonian prisoners looked around impressed and depressed at the same time.

The village consisted mostly of children and the oldest people around seemed to be the teenagers they had met some minutes ago. There must be over a hundred of them, and all of them seemed petrified of the newcomers. All of them looked the same with filthy rags and many of them ill. The caves were illuminated by a few crystals and all around were some kind of sheds where the kids seemed to live.

Finally they reached a bigger shed and when they went inside they were greeted by another group of teens. They looked a little older than the one’s they had already met and all of them bowed deeply to them, before one of them muttered:

“We waited for you. There are ten of us like you wanted, nine of us seventeen and one sixteen. We are ready to follow you as quickly as you wish.”

Again, Aerrow tried to explain their situation and that they weren’t one of those Sky Knights they seemed to expect. They needed hours to finally convince the teens that they wouldn’t want to take them away.

*~*~*

They soon learned about their situation when the blonde girl, which went by the name Anna, started explaining things:

“When our leaders left us and got defeated by the Sky Knights the downfall of Cyclonia began. At first they started killing everyone they could find. Our last leaders, which were called Ravess and Snipe, had been executed in public on Atmosia.” At that Lark made an exhausted noise, but Dark Ace kept watching out for her, so the Storm Hawks just looked on.

“Then they started to catch the remaining Cyclonians and sold them as slaves for their own profit. They got really high prices for them, because there were obviously a lot of people who seemed to hate us enough to want their very own Cyclonian to punish. They left us children here, because they couldn’t make money with us, and probably just wanted us to die here to spare the energy needed to kill us right away. They might think we deserved no easier end – at least that was what they told us.

“In contrast to what they believed would happen, we somehow managed to survive with the older kids taking charge. They watched out for the younger children and so we kept living our own lives down here in these caves, because you can’t live anymore on the surface of Terra Cyclonis, because it’s too dangerous now. 

“But when they came back patrolling our Terra and found us still living they decided to make some money again. They didn’t kill but condemned us to give them ten of the older teens for slaves every six months, so they could sell us in exchange for our survival. This has been going on for over ten years now, and I don’t think this will ever change again.

“The Cyclonian nation still survives here in some twisted kind of freedom, but after living for seventeen years here, every one of us had to pay the price for it as a slave for the rest of his or her life.”

Anna stopped there and absently stroked her belly, which held a new Cyclonian child. She smiled grimly. 

“When my son is born I’ll have to go too, because I’ll be one of the oldest by then, but at least I know a part of me will be free for a while. That will be worth living for.”

*~*~*

They had gotten some food from the teens after the first hours of talk. All of the Storm Hawks and their prisoners were silent and kept to their own thoughts. They have been left alone, while the older teens went to feed everyone else. They wouldn’t be back for another hour or so – at least that was what they’d told them, so Aerrow finally spoke up:

“Guys, tell me, what do you think of all this?”

He looked around them and waited patiently for their answers. Piper was the first to answer his question:

“I feel deeply sorry for them. No one deserves to live this way.”

Aerrow heard Dark Ace snort. He still held Lark in his arms. She looked like crap and hadn’t left his personal space since they had passed the unfinished grave on the surface. He seemed to be the only constant she still had, which kept her from falling apart. 

She sat on his strong legs while she looked dully to the front as if she noticed nothing around her anymore. Dark Ace didn’t seem to mind that and somehow didn’t even seem to notice it anymore. It looked as if he’d done it countless times before and didn’t even seem to register it as odd behaviour.

It was odd to the eyes of the Storm Hawks since they’d never thought to see her this weak and see him this caring this way. But that’s not the only thing they were thinking about it: Especially Piper and Aerrow, their two leaders, felt something else about it, but both were not able to pinpoint exactly what their problem with it was and why they were feeling so strange about it. They had to focus on other problems as well, which the former Talon Commander pointed now out:

“I don’t believe you. These kids are Cyclonian children after all. Why should you feel sorry for them?” His eyes shot daggers at his captors, and Finn wanted to assault him for it, when Aerrow held him back:

“Stop it Finn. He has every right to be bitter about this. Still we’re really not to blame for this, Dark Ace, and you know it.”

The man still looked angry, but he nodded grudgingly, before accusing him in another way: “I still find it hard to believe you care for some Cyclonian kids. We hurt helpless people on other Terras, as I’m sure you know.”

“Be that as it may, but we’re not you.” Piper said, sighing. “We have always wanted to be the good guys, and doing the right thing can’t be executing people or letting children pay for things that happened while some of them weren’t even born.”

“It’s never right to hurt children – whoever they are.” Junko said and crossed his arms stubbornly. “And we should help them. It’s the least we could do – especially if they are telling the truth and the Sky Knights have turned to be the bad guys here.”

“Don’t you fear that if you help them, they could become the same monsters you fought only months ago?” The Dark Ace looked at them daringly.

This prompted Aerrow to finally make the decision:

“Then we should not only help them, but teach them to become better Cyclonians. I’m sure with your help we could do that.”

At that, Lark looked up for the first time. Her violet gaze still held tears, but obviously she couldn’t even cry anymore: “I don’t think they would want my help. You heard them: Their leader left them alone in their misery and they are right about that. I was thinking about myself alone and not about my people or my obligations to them. I don’t deserve to be their master anymore.”

“No one said you should become their master again.” Piper bridged the space between them with some steps and finally touched her lightly on the arm “We said you could assist us in helping them. We want to give them their freedom back and the possibility to become better people. Everyone makes mistakes, so don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“I would really like to help them, if they want me to, but I’ll do it as Lark.”

All Storm Hawks nodded thoughtfully at that, only the Dark Ace, who still held her on his lap asked softly:

“Are you really sure about that, Master?”

From one second to the other Lark’s posture changed and the Storm Hawks could see that pieces of the arrogant, former ruler of Cyclonian were still inside her. Although that should have been creepy, it made them all less worried (Stork was still on the Condor waiting for them to report, so he couldn’t point out impending doom) because it was at least a constant they were used too, since so much else had changed.

“Stop calling me that, all of you, at least until I deserve to be called that way again. That rule goes double for you, Dark Ace. I was very serious, when I set you free. You can make your own decisions now.”

The look on Dark Ace face was unreadable, but most of them could see that he would have preferred to have this conversation in private. Still, he answered her:

“That’s not as easy for me as you might think, mas… Lark. Of course I will help those children. They are Cyclonians and I’ll help them at your side, because that’s where I rightfully belong. But I’ll still be your humble servant, like I swore years ago whether if you like it or not. There is no other place for me anymore and I won’t give this up easily.”

While the Storm Hawks watched the discussion without interfering, Lark looked as if she wanted to protest, but then she shrugged. She finally stood from his lap, realising for the first time where she’d been sitting, and sat on her own, trying to be as composed about it as she could and changed the topic.

“So how will you try to help them?” That question was sent Aerrow’s way, but one of the Storm Hawks decided to answer.

“There are so many things which should be thought over.” Piper started. “They obviously need help against those Sky Knights. They can’t keep loosing their leaders as slaves. So they need training, weapons and other machines to defend themselves.”

Finn added after some thought: “A lot of them look sick. They need better medicine and some of them need to learn how to heal.”

Piper continued: “And they should learn more about crystals too. A lot of those crystals could be used better and more efficient than how they’ve been using them now.”

“They should learn to play more. They all seem so earnest, but they should be allowed to be kids. What’s all the freedom in the world worth, if you’re not allowed to be happy?” Junko looked more earnest than ever, which was a strange look on the usually happy and easy to please Wallopp.

Everyone nodded at that, before Dark Ace asked finally, somehow lacking his former hostility: “What about their history? Do you want them to know who they are? Or do you want to teach them to be someone else?” He looked suspiciously at them, but Aerrow had expected something like that from the man:

“I think they should learn to be Cyclonians. I think after everything they’ve been through they won’t want to rule the world ruthlessly. I think they’ll be happy if they get a chance for real freedom. So what exactly did you have in mind?”

“I… I heard some of them talking in Cyclonian to each other and I could barely understand them. They’ve nearly lost their own language. I don’t think they could write it anymore or even read old texts. Furthermore today should be celebrated, because this has always been a holiday at our Terra. But they don’t even seem to know about that anymore. Cyclonia has had a long history, and not all of it has been what you would consider bad. They should know about being one of the oldest nations of Atmos.”

Aerrow nodded. “Sounds good to me and I think we should look for ways to help them to get better food. The stuff they gave us was awful and it didn’t only taste bad: I’m pretty sure that stuff wasn’t very nourishing.”

Lark took it from there and continued: “That’s because they have to let these vegetables grow in caves, illuminated only by the light of crystals. That’s actually an old Cyclonian tradition, since our Terra has never been very fertile. But they don’t seem to know the right vegetables to use or the right crystals. I’m sure we could teach them a lot about this.”

Aerrow grinned broadly as his team started to chatter wildly around him.

“So it’s settled then?”

“Of course!” they answered as one, all of them glad they’d made a decision. It just wasn’t in their nature to not getting things done. 

*~*~*


	2. About Being the 'Good Guys'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes it is harder to do the right thing than one would think

*~*~*

At first when they told Anna and the other teens about their plans, they didn’t take it as they had expected. Anna kept refusing their help for weapons and fighting lessons for the older kids and teens, and explained that the Sky Knights just were too mighty to fight.

They understood her fears when she told them that the last time little Sev had tried to fight, the Sky Knight, had killed two other children as revenge, although the little boy hadn’t been able to harm them in any way.

Aerrow and Piper tried to convince her that this could happen again, if they didn’t start to fight for their freedom. But it was Lark who rose to their rescue. When Anna recognized Lark for whom she had been and when she discovered the identity of Dark Ace, her attitude changed and she started crying.

At first the older Cyclonians were sure the girl would send them away for good, but Anna surprised them by hugging them both tightly and thanking the Cyclonian gods that they had rescued them from the wrath of the Sky nights.

“With your help we’ll be able to get a new start in this. You’ll be our saviours as the oracle kept telling us.” Anna suddenly looked torn about the Storm Hawks “But why…” She was still suspicious about these strange teens that were wearing Sky Knight clothes but were so different than all other Sky Knights they’d ever met.

“But why are you with those Sky Knights?”

Of course no one wanted to point out that they were still prisoners. That would probably be the worst thing they could do in this situation. Even Finn saw it without having to be told. So Aerrow answered right away:

“We got lost together in another world, like we told you before, and now we’ve become friends. That’s why we want to help you so much.”

Dark Ace lifted a surprised eyebrow at that and shot him a look, but didn’t comment. Anna was way too excited to see it, so she just started babbling that now everything would become alright somehow. The Storm Hawks and their two ‘friends’ weren’t so convinced about it, but they were smart enough not to say it either.

*~*~*

From then on Anna and the other leaders accepted their help with everything. As reparation she helped the Storm Hawks work out a plan to disguise themselves and the Condor for when their new enemies came to take their next set of slaves away. 

With Stork’s and Lark’s help the plan was followed through nearly immediately. Their work to help the kids seemed appreciated by everybody.

*~*~*

Stork mostly busied himself with the mechanics. Obviously he’d missed a great deal of development in his field over the time lapse, so he studied everything new he could find. 

He built some skimmers for Dark Ace, Lark and the older teens out of old ones found in the ruins. He also modified the Storm Hawks’ skimmers and the Condor to keep up with the actual state of technology. 

Besides that he built a whole bunch of traps for the cave system, so that those other ‘Sky Knights’ would be held back when there where too many of them attacking all at once.

The rest of the time was occupied by helping Lark and Piper with their jobs and building any machines he was asked for, because those two were working on the right use of crystals and the food problem.

*~*~*

Piper loved her new line of work. She needed all her brain cells buzzing to solve the puzzling problems with which she was confronted. She was learning about the connections between crystals and the production of vegetables. She had of course heard about it before, but because she had never needed to rely on that information there was a whole area she hadn’t learned about yet.

It had been surprising to see how willingly Lark worked with her. Granted, they were both crystal specialists and they had worked together just fine in getting back to Atmos, but this was still different somehow. Lark was willingly sharing information with her, obviously no longer caring who she was sharing with at all.

And she seemed to somehow like her near. It was nice to see how excited the other teen could get when a plan of theirs really worked out. They were able to help the kids so much with their knowledge and Lark seemed to love every second of it. To Piper, it looked as if this was the first time Lark was doing something because she actually wanted to do it rather than because it was expected of her – and as far as she knew, she was right in thinking so.

Piper started to share her meals with Lark more often than with the other Storm Hawks. This was rather odd at the beginning: Eating had always been important for the squad, because they were like family. But somehow this had started to extend to these two Cyclonians as well, although they had been enemies for so long.

She knew she wasn’t the only one thinking so, because Aerrow seemed to have the same kind of feelings for the other Cyclonian and his former nemesis. That was odd too, because Piper had always thought her and Aerrow would become a couple one day. When she was younger she’d even had a massive crush on their leader, but she’d outgrown that.

Sure, they looked as if they were made for each other, but he was just a friend to her. She couldn’t think of him in any romantically way anymore.

So because she felt so at ease with the Cyclonian girl and because she had a suspicion about the feelings of her best friend, it took all her courage to ask the other girl about Dark Ace:

“So, are you two together?”

“What?” Lark nearly dropped the crystal she’d been holding. Only her abilities as witch kept that from happening, as she whirled around, looking dumbstruck at the other girl: “What are you talking about?”

“You and Dark Ace.”

Lark looked torn between anger, surprise and guilt about how to answer that one. Finally she decided on a cold: “That’s none of your business.”

But Piper had expected such an answer and didn’t even blink when she got it. Instead she just grinned and sat down, watching Lark intently. The other teen was obviously very nervous about the strange left turn their earlier conversation had taken.

“Come on, Lark. You can tell me, I won’t tell anybody if you don’t want me to.”

“Why would you want to know? It’s really none of your business.”

“Because I’m curious. And because we are friends after all. We had been before, the first time we met, and we are still in spite of everything that has happened since.”

Lark’s shoulder slumped a little and she suddenly looked lost again, obviously looking for someone to lean on. But her usual stronghold wasn’t in sight, as Dark Ace was still training the teens to fly.

“I don’t deserve your friendship, Piper.”

Piper stood, suddenly knowing what she had to do although she new it was a dangerous manoeuvre. Not even Dark Ace knew when the former Cyclonian ruler would show itself in the other teen and with crystals in her hand, the girl was very dangerous. Still Piper did, what she wanted to do and went to Lark, hugging her before whispering:

“Don’t act stupid. It doesn’t suit you. Of course you deserve to be friends with me. Everyone who cares as much for these kids as you do deserves to have friends. And I’m sure, your… boyfriend sees it the same way.”

Lark suddenly returned her hug, but then shoved her away, embarrassed. Her cheeks pinked slightly while she busied herself working with another crystal before finally mumbling:

“We are not together. And we never will be. So get that stupid thought out of your head. Saying stupid things doesn’t suit you either.”

Piper was surprised to hear that they weren’t together, because it had seemed so obvious to her. Even Finn had started commenting on how often they were in each others space.

“But he’s always there for you, always right in your personal space.”

“So what? We’re still just friends.” Lark turned again to her and suddenly looked really sad.

Piper could clearly see that the girl didn’t like the fact she had just stated, so she added:

“And you are sure that he doesn’t feel the same way for you that you feel for him?”

Larks eyes widened in shock as she heard these words, because she hadn’t expected the other girl to see the pain she felt about it.

“Yes, I do. We talked about it a long time ago.”

Now it was Pipers turn to look surprised. “You’re not that old, how can you…?”

“Because my father assigned him to be my bodyguard when he came to us. We both had reservations at the beginning, but we soon befriended each other. We were stuck in that strange situation after all, so it would have been futile to fight against the will of my father. You could never win against the will of my father.” Lark sounded bitter and angry, but Piper didn’t interrupt her.

“In any case when I learned how much he cared about me I told him one day, that I’d marry him. I was 8 years old at that time, but as I’m sure you can imagine, I meant it, after all I wasn’t allowed to have a childhood.” Piper nodded, encouraging her to go on.

“He was really great about it and told me he’d like too, but that my father would never allow it. He was right about that, but still, I knew he wasn’t telling the whole truth. He may care for me a great deal, but he doesn’t love me and never will – at least not in the way I used to wish him to. I was angry that he didn’t tell me the real reason why he didn’t want to marry me, so I made my own investigations without his knowledge and I learned the reason behind it pretty fast.”

Lark sighed deeply, lost on her own memories for a while. Finally Piper couldn’t stand it any more and prodded: “So why doesn’t he want to marry you?”

“That’s not my position to tell you but his. It was bad enough that I betrayed his trust in me by spying on him. At least it had nothing to do with me, which was what I was afraid of. So when I confronted him, we decided to stay friends instead of lovers.”

“So why did you want to send him away then?”

“Because we both changed when I became the ruler of Cyclonia. I wanted to give him his freedom. He’d been there for me for so long he needed to get his own life back.”

“Don’t you think he might get it even if he keeps staying with you? You know, you can’t send friends away if they don’t want to leave you. So he isn’t your servant anymore. If he was he would carry out your orders without question.”

Lark managed to find a small smile, even though she obviously didn’t feel like it, so Piper continued: “Everything will be fine, you’ll see. With friends, everything is possible.”

Larks mood suddenly fell again and she muttered darkly and defiantly: “That is until my ‘friends’ have to give their prisoners their deserved punishment.”

Piper looked grim at that too: “Don’t be so sure about that. The last word about that hasn’t been spoken yet.”

*~*~*

Aerrow and Dark Ace busied themselves with teaching the kids to fight, to fly and to defend themselves properly. While one of them showed the moves, the other one would see how well the kids were mimicking them. They had made three classes for them. The first contained those who were old enough to fly skimmers and would need crystal powered weapons. 

The second group contained those children who would stay in the caves and work with the traps Stork was building. Sev was the leader of that group and everyone could tell how proud he was about it. Anna had been right: He would be a strong leader one day. Those kids needed strength and they did a lot of work for their perseverance. However, they were taught some defensive moves as well.

The third group consisted of the really small kids, which would hide while there was fighting and would keep watch over the resources and the babies. When they were fast enough, they could help by delivering messages if communications fail. They learned mostly about defending themselves and fighting what Dark Ace and Aerrow considered girly and dirty. They taught them the vulnerable places to hurt without having to have the strength to fight any other way. This was more about biting, scratching and running away than anything else. They needed to protect their very lives. And with this group, they did it in as enjoyably as they could. They played with balls mostly, because it wasn’t only sport, but fun too.

All of the children and teens seemed to adore Aerrow and Dark Ace for the work they were doing but that went for every Storm Hawk and Lark too, for that matter.

*~*~*

Finn on the other hand, worked with the first and second group of the kids. He was teaching them too shoot. 

But whenever he could afford the time he was now the new medic. After all, he was usually the one who got hurt during their battles and he had a lot of experience with being a doctor.

Sometimes he went out with Junko to trade crystals or resources for medication, with the few remaining merchants who weren’t under the control of this Sky Knight Federation. From them, they got a lot of information and even heard about some rebels who fought against the Sky Knights.

From the kids they learned that those rebels knew about their situation but thought that the Cyclonian deserved their fate, so they couldn’t expect any help from that quarter. But knowing there were people fighting against the insane regime gave them not only hope but ideas too. If they did it the right way, the Sky Knight federation wouldn’t know it were the kids rebelling against their fate. They might assume it was the actual rebels that they were fighting all the time.

*~*~*

Dark Ace had been right; Cyclonian history and language were worth teaching too. Dark Ace told the kids on a regular basis about the proper use of their language, while on other days, Lark told them about their history.

Aerrow himself liked learning the language, which made Dark Ace give him odd look at times, but he didn’t care. He even started to talk in Cyclonian to the older man to practice. At first Dark Ace seemed angry, but he finally gave in and answered with easy sentences, so that Aerrow could understand him and practice.

One day, when they were on their way to school for their language lessons, they saw two older boys mercilessly teasing a younger, seemingly helpless boy. That in itself was odd because the children usually looked out for and helped each other; having to act like grown-ups way too early in their young lives. Aerrow instantly wanted to stop them, but Dark Ace beat him to do it, which was the second strange thing about that day.

Dark Ace scolded the older boys so merciless they promptly started crying and ran away. Aerrow was surprised at that because although Dark Ace was a severe teacher and never went easy on the kids, he seemed to care for all of them in his own way.

Aerrow didn’t trust his eyes when Dark Ace suddenly lifted the small boy into his arms and took him with him, all the while murmuring in a low whisper, so Aerrow didn’t understand what he was saying.

But the boy listened intently to his words, nodding slowly and drying his eyes from the tears which had flown freely before. He must be about three or four years old, definitely too young for language lessons or fighting lessons yet, so Aerrow didn’t know the boy. But he looked familiar and suddenly he got it: The boy had raven hair and dark red eyes. He looked like a miniature Dark Ace.

Somehow this choked him. For the first time he realised how much older Dark Ace was than the rest of them. He was fifteen years their senior, he could have had a family when they left Atmos.

That thought stayed with him and when the boy ran away to play again, he decided to ask Dark Ace about it.

“May I ask you a personal question?”

“I don’t think I could stop you from asking anything. But whether you’ll get an answer or not will be another question entirely.” Dark Ace grinned smugly, but Aerrow just rolled his eyes and sighed mockingly.

“Why were you so angry at the boys? Usually you let them fight, always claiming that they had to learn to defend themselves if they want to survive in this cruel world. What was different with that boy?”

“You see, that was one of the answers I might not like to give you.” Dark Ace answered and started rummaging around for his teaching stuff. The language class would start in about ten minutes.

“Come on, Dark Ace. I won’t tell anyone, I promise. I… you know… I just saw you with that boy and suddenly there was this thought, which won’t leave my head. Did he remind you of your own family? Did you have a son yourself?”

Dark Ace suddenly stopped dead in his movements and started shivering. Aerrow steeled himself for the outburst, assuming the shivering was due to rage. He prepared to grip his blades if need be, but when Dark Ace finally turned to him again, he surprised Aerrow by laughing deeply and rich and so hard that tears welled up in his eyes. 

Suddenly Aerrow felt angry. Here he had been concerned about the other man and about a family he might have lost and the man was laughing at him for it. When the laughter died down, Dark Ace quieted enough to answer him: “No, Sky Boy, I never had a son. But your musings weren’t that far from the truth.”

“How so?”

“Not all of the history of Cyclonia is good, as you might already know.” Aerrow snorted but didn’t interrupt him further. The man continued: “We are very superstitious and have always been that way. It’s sad to see that they don’t know about language and the good history but they still hold on to their old prejudices. Boys with red eyes and black hair have always been a sign of doom for Cyclonians. They were rare and usually got expelled for their looks at an early age. I…” 

Dark Ace paused but finally forced himself to finish what he’d started to tell: 

“I was the first one ever to be allowed back. I was the first one to ever look that way and get promoted so highly. I thought that would have killed this old prejudice, but it obviously didn’t. Well…” Dark Ace looked somewhat lost and deeply sad “They might have been right after all. I was the last Dark Ace, and with me, the whole empire fell.”

Aerrow couldn’t stand to see the proud and arrogant man look so torn and lost that he tried to comfort him: “You know perfectly well that these are still just stupid prejudices, so quit thinking along those lines. Instead, focus on helping your nation to find a future. They still have a chance to fight for their freedom.”

Dark Ace looked grateful and then somehow seemed ashamed and angry at himself for showing weakness. He started rummaging nervously again. Aerrow was slightly nervous as well, because he still felt strange in the vicinity of his former archenemy. Something odd was happening with him, probably with both of them, and he hadn’t worked out what it was yet. So he tried to distract them both by asking:

“I still don’t get the joke though. I mean, what was so funny about my question? You’re old enough to be a father after all.”

“Yes, be that as it may, I never did anything that could have resulted in a child.” Dark Ace answered smirking in Aerrow’s direction before starting to look for the rest of the books again.

Aerrow was dumbstruck: “You never had sex?” he blurted out without thinking and instantly regretted it, as Dark Ace started laughing at him again. Finally he answered cool as ever: “I never said anything like that. You’re not paying attention, Storm Boy.”

“But you just said…”

“I know, what I said. You just didn’t understand what I was trying to tell you. So let me rephrase it: I never touched a girl in a way that would end with me being a father.”

Aerrow’s blush deepened but he crossed his arms defiantly: “That’s the same as you said before. So if you didn’t do anything with a girl which could end with you having a baby, you didn’t have sex before.”

“You’re really not getting it, are you?” Dark Ace rolled his eyes before he amended: “Okay, what about if I put it like this: girls, or women for that matter, aren’t the only people on this planet you could have sex with…”

“But…” Aerrow still looked confused but Dark Ace didn’t let him phrase another question. “Just think about it, Storm Boy. And now let the pupils in, they are already waiting!”

Obediently Aerrow went over to the door, his mind racing. What in the nine hell’s was the man implying and why couldn’t that frustrating man just come out and say it? Why all these riddles?… Suddenly it hit him with the force of a bomb. Suddenly he got it and he whirled around to look at Dark Ace in shock.

But the man just lifted a questioning eyebrow, and when he saw the dawning understanding, he grinned and asked nonchalantly: “Are you going to open the door or not?”

Aerrow did as he was told, blushing a deep shade of red. His mind was racing as he tried to work out what that particular information would mean for him.

*~*~*

Junko loved to play with the children. He liked them very much, and he couldn't understand how anyone could harm them. He had always imagined his future with a big family and lots of kids.

He had always loved his own family very dearly, especially because they had been so nice to him although he'd always been a strange Wallopp child. So he taught the Cyclonian children in the kindergarten who were too young for either lessons by Aerrow or Dark Ace to play nicely with each other. He was impressed at how grown-up most of them acted, but mostly it made him sad too. Children should always be allowed to be children.

He knew that Starling had always made fun of their training methods, but they worked for them because they had been (and still were) teens. They liked to play, and if Junko was asked about it, he would tell anybody that grown-ups should play as well. If they would play more often instead of always being so stern and tight lipped, there probably wouldn't be any need for wars.

Everyone seemed impressed about how well he could work with the children, but he just did what felt natural to him. If he had time, he tried to teach them useful things too. He often helped in the big kitchen, where some of the older teens cooked the meals for everyone. He sometimes brought kids too, so they could learn to be mighty chefs too. But he didn't make them work much; he just praised them every time they tried to help.

One time he found Anna in the kitchen, while the two boys he'd brought were making the dough for some cakes and cookies. They had fun working so they didn't need his attention. This gave him a chance to talk with the sad looking girl.

He came in quietly and sat right beside her, trying to be there for her because he knew she was often sad. Today it was even worse, because she was crying and when Junko saw that, he had to ask:

"Why are you weeping Anna? Are you hurt? Should I call for Finn?"

But Anna shook her head: "No Junko, I'm fine."

"But you're still crying, so there must be something wrong. Is the baby okay?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He'll love to play with you, because he's already kicking his feet. He'll probably be a great soccer player or something."

Junko was very excited to hear about that. "So you can already feel him moving?"

Anna dried her eyes, getting caught in Junko’s light mood and enthusiasm about her and her son. "Sure. Do you want to feel?"

Junko was so surprised his eyes nearly popped out: "You would let me touch you?"

Anna shrugged: "Sure, why not. Give me your hand!"

Junko did as he had been told and Anna placed his hand right on her belly. And sure enough he could feel something moving under the skin. "Whoa. That's cool! Feels like a strong boy, alright!" Junko talked to her belly telling her son what a great and strong boy he would be some day. After a while, he took his hand away and thanked Anna for allowing him to do that.

"You're welcome, Junko. It was really nice, what you did. Usually I'm the only one who talks to him. Even the other girls who are pregnant only talk to their own children. That makes me sad."

"Why doesn't his father talk to him?" Although he feared to know the answer to that question, Junko still had to ask. And sure enough Anna got sad again, but she tried not to show it too much.

"They took him the last time. I hoped he would at least be able to see his son, but he was already too old when he decided to fulfil his obligation."

"His obligation?" Junko was confused. That was a strange way to put having a baby in a relationship. Anna seemed to understand the problem and explained:

"Junko, none of us teens can wait for the great love to appear: If we don't get children early they'll take us away without letting us leave a part of ourselves here. So the older teens meet up to get pregnant, but it doesn’t have much to do with love. We don't have the privilege of love. It's rare that two of us fall in love at all, and usually it only makes things harder if one has to go."

"So you aren’t sad because your boyfr... the father of your child isn't here anymore?"

Anna shook his head again. "Of course I miss all of them, and he was always nice to me and I liked him just fine, but that's just how life is down here."

"So why were you so sad?"

Anna didn't look as if she wanted to answer, but Junko didn't give in, so she sighed and finally told him about her fears:

"You're doing so much for all of us, but you haven't fought them yet. They are cruel and unforgiving and worst of all they are very strong. I fear that you could fail, and that I'll probably have to leave my son. I fear that they'll kill you, although you just wanted to help. I fear that you'll bring the children hope, only to have it crushed. I don't know how much we can take anymore. This time it will probably kill us for good."

She started sobbing again and Junko took her softly in his arms and let her weep. She did so for a long time and felt more safe and protected than she'd felt her whole life. When she quieted down again she heard him promise:

"There's nobody as strong as me. I promise. I'll protect you and your son and the other children. Everything will be fine, just believe in us. We're the Storm Hawks after all."

*~*~*

Aerrow had been suffering insomnia and had taken to wandering the Condor late at night. He passed the rooms of their former prisoners. Lark and Dark Ace slept like the rest of the Storm Hawks on what most of them considered their home: The Condor. 

These days there where no locked doors or energy fields to stop them from moving around freely. They let Lark and Dark Ace do whatever they wanted, because they were sure they wouldn't deliver them to this strange Sky Knight Federation. They had all seen too much here, and all of them, including those two Cyclonians, had changed.

He felt very curious about what his former nemesis might be doing in the middle of the night instead of sleeping. And because he couldn't sleep himself anyway, he started looking for the former Talon Commander.

So he went to the controls of the Condor and found out via the bracelets that Dark Ace must have gone to the surface of the Terra. Curious about what he was doing out there, Aerrow decided to follow him and, if Dark Ace would allow it, keep him company.

The surface of Terra Cyclonia had always been warm, since it was so near the Wastelands, but the destruction in the ongoing war had intensified this effect. It was never chilly anymore, not even in the middle of the night, and there was always a slight red glow in the air from the active volcanoes around the Terra.

When Aerrow finally reached his goal he felt like crying. He had thought the man would be looking for crystals or metal in the ruins, or was going to take off on his skimmer for a while, but he had never expected this. 

Aerrow hadn't been to this place since the first day they had landed here and he hadn't planned on doing so ever again. He still felt incredibly sad looking at all the skeletons of those innocent people in that unfinished mass grave.

The redhead saw right away that Dark Ace must have been at this work since the very first day they'd landed here, because this was the work of more than one night. This was the work of more than a whole month. And still, so much left to do.

When Dark Ace finally spotted him, Aerrow was already in front of him. As he had been working hard with a spade to turn earth for proper graves, he hadn't been able to see Aerrow earlier. Dark Ace’s shirt was soaked from the sweat of hard work and he was smeared with dirt. Before he had looked grim as he worked and kind of furious, but he had worked at a steady pace so far. 

But when he saw Aerrow, he stopped suddenly and looked curiously at him before he spat:

"What? Did you fear, I was running away? Or collaborating with the enemy to save myself?"

Aerrow didn't answer. Instead he just went over to the man and stood before him. "Give me your right hand!" he ordered

"What...?" But Aerrow didn't let him finish and grabbed his wrist, lifted it up so he could see better in the red glow and finally opened the bracelet with the tiny key he was always carrying around with him.

The look on Dark Ace’s face was definitely worth it; he was so shocked it looked funny. If lightening had struck him, he probably wouldn't have felt it at all.

Aerrow just smiled mildly and finally pushed the bracelet in the man's hand, muttering: "Do whatever you want with it. We don't need it anymore." And after that he gripped a hoe and got to work without saying another word.

He felt a burning look of his former nemesis, who must have stared at him for at least five minutes, before he finally gave up on understanding what just had happened. So Dark Ace just shrugged, put the bracelet into his pocket after a moments thought and got back to work.

There had been so many Cyclonians who were still in need of a proper burial. They worked in silence and contentment hand in hand for the rest of the night, to give the dead what they deserved.

*~*~*

“Good morning, Lark.”

“Huh?” Lark was not used to getting woken up by anyone. Usually they let her sleep as long as she wanted. Only Dark Ace himself was allowed to wake her and even then, only in emergencies. “Has something bad happened?”

Piper grinned broadly at her. “No, nothing bad, I just wanted to wake you because Finn brought us terrific news and Aerrow gave me another really great order.”

Lark still felt disorientated. She wasn’t used to working so hard and not to being able to get as much sleep as she wanted. But she didn’t want to ruin the mood of her… friend, so she tried to be sensible: “So what is it then?”

Lark heard jangling and like Dark Ace had reacted all that time ago, she whipped her head around to stare at Piper. She couldn’t believe what she saw: These were the keys to her bracelet. She’d almost forgotten that she still wore it, because there was nothing else to remind her of her ‘prisoner’ status. 

“You’re really taking them off? What’s the catch?”

Piper’s smile only broadened so that she looked as if she’d swallowed a clown. “That’s the best part of it: No catch. No deal. We set you free. Although we want to offer you a position as honorary Storm Hawk too. If you like. That means you’ll be one of us for as long as we’re working on this.”

“What about Dark Ace? He’s your prisoner because of me.”

“Don’t worry. Aerrow took his bracelet off even before he told me to do the same with you. Here, catch!”

Piper threw the key to Lark before disappearing outside again to Larks great surprise. “Didn’t you say something about Finn bringing terrific news? So where are you going?” She yelled after the girl while hurrying to open the bracelet.

When she’d freed herself Piper came back again into her room and carried a tray loaded with what passed as a decent breakfast here. 

“I thought since I had to wake you, I could at least bring you a breakfast in bed as kind of compensation.”

“You brought me breakfast? In bed???” Lark looked dumbstruck, totally disbelieving her own eyes and ears. For a moment she considered whether Stork might be right about mindworms which would drive you mad…

“Sure. Friends do that for each other.”

“Thank you.” Lark tentatively made room in her bed, so the dark skinned girl could take a seat with her tray. She kept looking at Piper as if she was a vision or something.

Suddenly Lark blushed and looked nervously away, before clearing her throat and asking again about Finn as a change of subject. Piper saw that reaction, grinned, but decided not to say anything about it. Instead, she just started to eat and told her about Stork’s report:

“There will be a really big delivery of goods to one of the Sky Knight’s outer posts this afternoon. It will contain everything we could wish for. Not only will there be high quality crystals and metals, there will also be lots of food and stuff. And the best part of it is they’ll have seeds and a lot of the plants you kept talking about for growing in caves because it’s on an ice Terry and they have to grow their vegetable in caves too. There will even be new clothes for everyone.”

“And you really think you could rob them?”

“Aerrow and Dark Ace were positive that this would be the right start for the squads they were training. They don’t expect anyone to attack, not even rebels, so there will only be minimum security. We could probably even get a transport ship out of this.” 

Piper was hyper about this news, and Lark felt herself getting excited too. It was difficult not to in this girl’s company.

“So let’s do it.”

*~*~* 

The raid had been a full success and they now were celebrating. Aerrow had been curiously watching the ongoing interaction between Dark Ace and Lark as they found special food under their spoils. The redhead was very surprised when the former Talon Commander suddenly stated that he would do the cooking that afternoon. 

“Really Dark Ace?” 

Aerrow had never seen Lark look that way and he felt oddly ashamed at witnessing a look of such pure joy on her face. It somehow felt like intruding an intimate moment, especially as he saw the warm, welcoming and above all real smile on the lips of his former nemesis.

“Of course Lark. It is a tradition after all, and we do teach the kids about Cyclonian traditions, don’t we?”

“Then I want to help you do it. I love watching you cook.”

“As you wish!”

Piper was quicker than Aerrow, so she blurted out: “I’d pay a lot to see that one. I’ll help you too.”

Finally Aerrow could get a word in: “Don’t forget me. That’s a sight I want to see. Besides: the more, the merrier.”

The redhead hadn’t really thought Dark Ace would agree, but to their surprise he just nodded his consent and called Sev to him.

“Would you go to Claude (he was the one, who usually ran the kitchen for everybody and hence was friends with Junko) and tell him that he can take today off to celebrate like everyone else? And tell Anaris to come to the kitchen as well!”

Sev nodded and took off. He was glad he had something to do because he had been too young to help with the raid.

When they finally reached the big kitchen, Ace instantly started bellowing orders.

“Aerrow, because you’re good with knives you’ll do the chopping.” Dark Ace handed him a knife and pointed to tons of waiting mushrooms. Aerrow hadn’t thought about the shear amount of children they would have to feed. But he didn’t mind it much, because he still wanted to see this, so he just started on his work without any complaints.

“Piper, I think you’d probably be best off with doing your usual tomato sauce. I tasted it before and as long as you don’t spice it too much like last time, it will be perfect. Just don’t give too much water to it; we need a slightly thicker consistency for this. Lark?”

“I’ll do the cheese, like always.” Dark Ace looked unsure. 

“That will be a lot of cheese for everybody…”

Lark rolled her eyes at her overprotective friend. “I’ll be just fine. You know I’m not good at anything else in the kitchen.” Dark Ace still looked suspicious, but when he earned a glare from his former master he just nodded sharply and muttered: “As you wish.”

In the meantime Anaris, the red eyed and black haired boy Aerrow had met earlier, had arrived at the kitchen too. Dark Ace smiled at him, took him in his arms to give him a short hug by way of greeting and then brought him over to the waiting baking trays.

“Today you’ll learn something new about Cyclonian history, Anaris. Would you like to help us cook for the others?”

The shy boy nodded earnestly, his cheeks going slightly pink. It was obvious how honoured he felt by the question.

“Good. You’ll have one of the most important jobs at all: We need at least twenty baking trays ready for later. You’ll have to put a lot of butter on these. And afterwards you’ll put a thin layer of flour on it, so the dough will slide easily off them after getting baked.”

The boy nodded earnestly again and after Dark Ace put him back on the floor the boy instantly got to work.

“That leaves me with the dough.” Dark Ace murmured to himself and started looking for the necessary ingredients while the rest of them worked in silence.

After finishing the mushrooms and after cutting the umpteenth Paprika, Aerrow was so bored, that he finally dared to ask Dark Ace: “Why has this something to do with Cyclonian history?”

Anaris, who had in the meantime finished with the baking trays and was now helping Dark Ace with the dough, looked interested as well, so the man sighed and started explaining:

“It was a tradition for the Dark Ace to cook a pizza for his master once a month. The first to wear that title did so and everyone else, without exception, followed his example. This was a show of loyalty to his master; a demonstration of his promise to look out for his master’s every possible need.”

“What did the master have to do in return?”

The surprise in Dark Ace’s eyes was so obvious that Aerrow had to grin at his expression. “What? I may not be as bright as you three, but I’m not stupid. If such a thing is to work, it has to work both ways: A master who doesn’t care for his people, doesn’t deserve to be a master.”

Suddenly Aerrow paled at his own words. He had wanted to impress Dark Ace with his understanding, but had never wanted to hurt Lark with his words. But when he cautiously checked on her, she just nodded earnestly and added:

“Exactly right. In return, the master has to appreciate the food – as bad as it may be. It was symbolic. But my father was never one to play by the rules – at least not if they interfered with his plans. He only used them when they suited his desires.”

“What did he do?” The shy Anaris had actually managed to gather enough courage to speak to the grown ups and Dark Ace patted his head softly in acknowledgment of the progress he was making.

“He told everyone how awful my cooking skills were. Every month he used the opportunity to cut me down, to put me back in my place. He may have accepted my strength and he was intelligent enough to realise it was better to have me on his side, but that didn’t mean he would life make easy for me. Being a ‘Poloch’ was the greatest disgrace.”

Aerrow knew by now that Poloch was the word Cyclonians use to describe black haired and red-eyed children. This time, it was Piper’s turn to speak up:

“But if this is such a bad memory for you, why did you want to do it now? Especially, since Lark asked you more than once not the treat her as a master Cyclonis anymore.”

Again, Lark answered that: “Because that wasn’t the actual tradition we were talking about. It was a tradition between him and me, not between him and my father.”

“I’ll never forget the day it started. It was the second time I had cooked and I was in a mad rage. I hated the tradition with every fibre of my every being. I had trashed my whole room as way of getting my anger out. And then, right in the middle of ripping my sheets apart, a six year old Lark came in my room and watched me calm as ever, with those big violet eyes, until she had my undivided attention.”

“She must have been cute, when she was little.” Piper piped up and earned a playful slap on her shoulder from her new friend.

“I’m. Never. Cute.”

“Oh yes, she was really cute. And all earnest. She never knocked because future masters don’t need to be allowed anywhere. She never asked for something, because future masters always demand. She never cried…” he paused and watched her intently before finishing softly: “because future masters never lose.”

“God, your father must have been a real ass…”

“Language!” Dark Ace suddenly hissed with a side look at Anaris. Anaris watched the redhead with astonished puppy dog eyes. They looked so big, that they threatened to fall out any second.

“Erhm… sorry.” Aerrow blushed and then asked to change the subject: “So what did little Lark do?”

“She said…” and here Lark took over again: “I want more of that pizza.”

All of the listeners waited patiently for her to add more, but finally they understood, that was all she would say. So Aerrow finally dared to ask:

“That was all? You didn’t even say it tasted good or something?”

Dark Ace grinned: “You have to understand that she was very picky. There were days she wouldn’t eat anything until her father forced her to at least eat something. She ate only those things that she really liked – and that wasn’t much. I instantly went to the kitchen and spent most of the night making a second one.”

“And then I shocked you again by ordering you to eat too.” Lark smiled in reminiscence. 

“Yes, because that wasn’t allowed. The Dark Ace never ate with his Master – especially not the traditional pizza.” Dark Ace explained further, before Lark took over again:

“We finished the whole pizza down there in the kitchen, sitting solemnly and feeling like kings. We made a mess while eating it without the proper tools, but we both loved every second of it. It was the day our friendship started.”

“And the day when I stopped caring about how her father treated me – because he’d made me bodyguard of the most precious jewel I ever had laid my eyes on.”

“I’m not so sure about that. He still hurt your pride and continued to do so. I remember clearly how you travelled the whole Cyclonian territory, over and over, to find new recipes you could try out for my father. You believed that someday you would find one even he couldn’t make fun of.”

“Did you ever consider the possibility that I may have wanted to surprise you with them and not him?” Dark Ace contradicted, smirking.

“You know that you didn’t have too. I had never eaten a pizza of yours which I didn’t like. I even liked the extraordinary ones when you experimented with fish and seafood and stuff…”

“So let’s see, if I still have my touch. Who’s hungry?”

*~*~*

In the meantime all the others were working on getting their new goods put safely away while waiting for their leaders to finish cooking. The teens were mostly occupied by the stuff they had to bring to the gardens and the kitchen. The younger kids and the rest of the Storm Hawks dealt with the new ship and all metals and crystals.

Finn, Junko and Stork worked on the controls of the new ship, while Radarr brought the crystals over to Lark and Piper’s lab. They had been working in silence so far, until Finn started to tease Junko out of the blue: 

“So, you got yourself a girlfriend, huh?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Dude, don’t try to sound more stupid than you actually are, my friend. You know exactly what I’m talking about!”

Finn was grinning broadly and in his self-confidence missed the other two sighing deeply at his behaviour and rolling their eyes.

“No Finn, I really don’t know what you are talking about.” Junko finally insisted and put the machine he had been carrying down with a lot more energy then strictly was needed.

“See, you get all nervous talking about it. Junko’s got himself a girlfriend! Junko’s got himself a girlfriend!” Finn started singing to himself until Junko finally exploded: “Stop being an ass about it, Finn! I’m not in the mood for your stupid behaviour!”

With that Junko abruptly turned and walked away, obviously fuming. Finn didn’t know what had gotten into his best friend.

“Was it something I said?”

Behind him, Stork groaned and muttered darkly: “God, you can be so stupid sometimes…”

“Why? I just wanted to tell him how glad I am he finally found a girl who seemed to like him.”

“So what? They probably weren’t so sure that starting a relationship would be such a good idea in her – and our - situation. Is that really so hard to understand?”

Actually that was hard for the sharpshooter to understand. In his world matters of the heart always seemed to be simple. He never considered that this might be the reason why he never had a stable relationship.

“But I don’t see the problem, Stork. He likes her and she likes him. So let’s start this dance!”

The Merb didn’t even answer that. Instead he kept muttering to himself, and of course it was his bad luck, that Finn partly understood what he was saying.

The blonde looked at him in awe: “What do you mean by that? About whom would I be surprised, when they finally get together? What do you know that I don’t? Come on, you can tell me buddy…”

But Stork just shook his head and answered grimly: “No, I won’t. We’re doomed already, why make it even worse by telling you beforehand? So, I won’t. And, by the way, I can’t even count all the things I know, that you don’t, so don’t make me start telling you now. We could both be dead before I’ve finished that task.”

Like always Stork’s sarcasm was wasted on the blonde and didn’t even penetrate his thick head. Instead the teen just grinned broadly and fought back – like he always did – as dirty as he could: “At least I know this: the Finnster’s had himself a lot of girlfriend, and I’ve never seen you with even one. And I know for a fact, that you are the oldest of us, right after Dark Ace…”

It must have something to do with his level of annoyance, because usually Stork wouldn’t have reacted at all. But he was tired after the successful raid and somehow he didn’t have the patience for another stupid discussion about his seemingly non existent love life with Finn.

So he decided for the easiest way to make Finn stop talking: He just went to the boy, grabbed him by his ears and pulled him in for a fierce kiss. Finn struggled of course, but he was more the long-range fighter, while Stork was used to steering the Condor. Although he didn’t look it, he was pretty strong and used that to his advantage.

As soon as Finn learned that struggling wouldn’t get him anywhere he blushed furiously while trying to stay as unresponsive as he could. But Stork didn’t let him have any of that either: With a few well placed pushes and nips, he opened the mouth of the blonde up to devour him. Finns eyes widened in shock, but after a while he struggled with himself to keep from responding.

Finally, the Merb let him go, after doing something really dirty and sexy to Finn’s lower lip, before muttering darkly and grinning like a madman. He probably was:

“Don’t ever underestimate a Merb again in matters of sex, Finn. It’s a very stupid thing to do, even for you. We learned ages ago, that sex is the best way to relieve our fearful nation from its constant tension. Every Merb learns very early in his life, how important it is to relieve oneself from that. 

So it’s pretty easy to see through your bluff, Mr. Sharpshooter: You may gotten yourself some girlfriends, but you are still a virgin. Getting a girlfriend and actually having sex are whole different worlds for you. So don’t ever try to start this with me again. 

Everybody with the tiniest experience can recognize you as a bloody virgin, so stop bothering me with it. Especially, since I’m used to sleeping with men and not with women and I don’t want to hear anymore about your dreadful fantasies.”

With that, Stork turned around, satisfied with himself for finally shutting up the blonde and left the room to look for Radarr. 

Finn on the other hand hadn’t moved an inch and was still staring at the place the Merb had occupied only seconds before. After a while he looked down at his own crotch and feared he might breakdown when he recognized the obvious bulge.

But still, he didn’t panic and instead lifted his right hand to his lips, where he still could feel the imprint of Storks tongue on it. He travelled its course before suddenly grinning as he received something resembling an epiphany – at least for him.

*~*~*

Aerrow hesitated on the brink to the common showers, took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Normally he took his showers on the Condor, but he knew that Dark Ace usually came here instead.

Aerrow knew that the other man badly needed to talk to someone, because he’d seen the freshly smashed mirror in the changing room. It was already very late in the colony, and most of the kids were already in bed and preparing for sleep. 

At first the redhead had thought he would find the man making some more graves outside, but when he had looked for him the place was deserted and undisturbed. Undoubtedly Dark Ace had seen enough death for one day.

Finally Aerrow took deep breath, took off the towel around his waist, his last barrier, and walked naked into the showers. He felt very vulnerable because he wasn’t used to showing himself off to other human beings. Of course he was no virgin, but in this situation it still felt pretty weird. He had had a girlfriend back when they had still lived on their home Terra and he had slept with her a few times.

After that he had done a few one-night stands, mostly when celebrating victories over his nemesis. But this was somehow different, the feelings, which had developed in him for this strange man were something else entirely. 

He had been surprised to feel lust for that man, but this was similar to his earlier hate and desire to fight him, that he’d accepted it pretty fast. The other feelings were more difficult to manage. But he wasn’t there to tell Dark Ace about his stupid crush, he was here to offer the man some relief and if he wanted it, as unlikely as it seemed, some mental assistance.

As he had expected, Aerrow found Dark Ace standing alone under one of the showers. Of course the other man was naked too, but he tried to ignore it best as he could, but he liked the idea of finally seeing the man naked.

Their usual uniforms weren’t hiding much, but it was still nice to see all the muscles on the man’s thin but strong body. There was so much skin to explore, but when Aerrow realised how badly the man was shivering, he quickly erased every thought about sexual activities. That had to wait. There would be other times which would be better suited for it.

Dark Ace hadn’t turned around when Aerrow had entered the common showers. He stood quietly facing the white tiles of the wall, leaning heavily on his outstretched arms. 

As soon as Aerrow reached his side he realised that Dark Ace wasn’t ignoring him, but that he hadn’t even heard him come in. The redhead realized that Dark Ace must have been standing there for some time, because the water had turned ice cold and hence the severe shivering. For a few minutes Aerrow actually started a shower while musing over what would be the best thing for him to do.

So Aerrow took all his courage after rinsing himself from the soap and touched the man lightly on his shoulder to get his attention. Dark Ace drew a sharp breath and his head snapped around to stare at him. Then Aerrow realised with a sharp pang to his heart that the wetness on the man’s face couldn’t be caused by the shower alone and he suddenly felt ill.

Still the eyes were staring angrily at him now. He didn’t know if it was because he had dared to look for him or to touch him or simply because he had found him crying.

Their third raid on the Sky Knight Federation had gone anything but well. Although they were able to steal the ship and its goods, the watchmen had been waiting for them this time. There had been a real fight for the first time, and it had resulted in the first death amongst their ranks. Two teens in their major squad had been wounded, and one who went by the name Danny, had actually found his death on this mission.

“What do you want from me, Sky Knight?” Dark Ace hissed at Aerrow, springing to action and pinning the boy efficiently against the tiled wall. It felt pretty cold against his backside. Aerrow wasn’t sure how to react to that, but he knew that trying to fight him would be a really bad idea.

“It wasn’t your fault, Dark Ace.”

“Why the hell should you care?”

“Because I’ve been out there too and because I’ve trained them too. It was no one’s fault, especially not yours. You did your best like everyone else.”

“Tell that to Danny. He’ll probably doesn’t think the same, and I can’t blame him!”

“All of the squad knew the danger they are getting themselves into every time they decided to fight. They know something like that could happen at anytime and will definitely happen again if we keep up the fight against the Federation.”

“I should have been there to save him. I should have known this was a trap. I…” Dark Ace was babbling with all that anger inside of him, but Aerrow interrupted him rudely:

“Stop it! You’re not the only one fighting this war. Don’t forget us, we are here to help. We all failed in protecting them, because our hands were full enough already. We…”

“Shut up!” Dark Ace yelled, but Aerrow yelled right back at him:

“No I won’t! Look, we all want to protect the…”

“Just shut the fuck up!” Aerrow knew that it was a bad sign to hear profanities out of Dark Ace’s mouth, but he couldn’t stop: he wanted to get through to the man, to make it clear to him, that he wasn’t alone anymore. He wanted to break through that damn wall the man always put up when they grew too near for his taste. Aerrow wouldn’t have any of that now. 

So he opened his mouth again, but this time no sound came out, because suddenly it was filled with another tongue. The kiss tasted bitter, the sharp metallic tang of blood mixed in it. Dark Ace must have bitten his lip before while fighting his rage and his inner pain before he’d forced this… ambush on Aerrow’s lips.

The kiss wasn’t anything like romantic or loving. Instead it was about hate and dominance, about pain and loss and anger. Aerrow understood it and gave back as much as he could by kissing, hissing, moaning and biting. It wouldn’t help to give in to the man too easily. 

Dark Ace growled his appreciation that the boy didn’t fight the kiss but didn’t surrender either, so he started to let his hands wander over the boy’s tense body. Suddenly Aerrow knew that it would happen here and now, right at this place. He had wanted to do it the romantic way, but this was the Dark Ace, so this was probably the only way to get what he wanted.

Aerrow gathered his courage again, and although he feared the consequences, he made a decision. He didn’t think it was such a great idea to do this now under these circumstances and he feared that he might get hurt by the other man’s rage and his lack of control, but still, he understood his need. The needed to lash out because he was hurt so much. He needed to be with someone because he felt like he was falling apart by being alone. So Aerrow gripped Dark Ace’s left hand at the wrist and positioned it right between his ass cheeks.

That made Dark Ace growl dangerously and though he instantly used his middle finger to probe at the hidden entrance there, he broke the feral kiss to stare at Aerrow, a questioning look in his eyes.

But Aerrow just nodded grimly, giving his consent, and turned around to face the wall and offer himself. This would likely hurt like hell, but Aerrow tried to shrug that thought off. The pain would probably help to erase the pain he felt inside– at least for a while until he could grieve properly for the lost of a friend.

But although he braced himself against the tiles, expecting pain, it never came and instead he felt the other man go down on his knees. Suddenly his ass cheeks got grabbed and pulled slightly apart and something hot, wet and incredibly dirty feeling pushed against his waiting opening. 

He’d heard of rimming before, but never had anyone do something like that to him. He wanted to complain, to make the man stop, because he had wanted to give something to him, not to get, but his resistance soon fell. The man’s tongue was doing wonders to him and he was ready to blow in about two minutes short. Just when he felt his orgasm approaching he grabbed his balls hard, trying to stop himself, but Dark Ace wasn’t having any of it. He slapped Aerrow’s hand away and started pumping the teen’s cock in time to the strokes of his tongue.

When Aerrow came, the force of it hit him so hard he fell to his knees, breathing hard and totally confused. While he still tried to figure out what the hell had just happened and exactly when the sacrifice he’d wanted to make had taken that strange left turn, he felt his mouth getting plundered again. He expected it to feel strange to kiss Dark Ace now, after what he’d done to him, but it tasted just like before. So he enjoyed as much as he could and gave back as much as he could.

But when he made motions too reciprocate by at least giving the man some strokes on his waiting dick, Dark Ace pushed his hand away. Aerrow instantly grew angry, expecting the wall between them to slam back in place with full force, but Dark Ace calmed him down again, by putting a hand over his mouth and whispering: “Shush. Just because I don’t want to fuck you right here, in this mood, where anyone could come and catch us, that doesn’t mean I don’t want to fuck you at all.”

Aerrow considered Dark Ace’s sense of privacy somewhat strange, because he would prefer getting caught fucking someone instead of rimming someone, but who was he to contradict? Perhaps this was some Cyclonian tradition he hadn’t learned about yet. So he just nodded his understanding. Dark Ace took his hand away, before he continued. “I think we should take this someplace else, where we could talk about this before we do anything else. I don’t do these things lightly.”

Aerrow blushed at that but couldn’t resist contradicting, and while grinning said, “I’m not so sure about that. You seem pretty easy…”

Dark Ace shot him a scolding look and stood. “I’m not talking about sex, silly boy, I’m talking about relationships. Come on, we should really talk about this where we won’t be disturbed!”

Aerrow couldn’t stop the big grin from forming on his lips, while he hurried after the other man to the changing rooms to grab a towel. Although he’d feared this could become one of the saddest days of his life, Dark Ace had somehow managed to turn it into something entirely different. Aerrow liked every second of it so far and he somehow doubted that this would change in the next few hours…

*~*~*

Lark was tired when she reached her room and nearly tripped over the sleeping form of her first female friend ever. It was obvious the girl had been crying, so she didn’t think twice, as she hurried to her side and tried to shake her awake.

“Hey, Piper, are you all right?”

Piper woke slowly, blinking, as she tried to focus on Lark.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” She blushed suddenly and tried to stand up. “I was waiting for your return and must have fallen asleep.”

Lark was intrigued by that: “Why didn’t you come to the lab, if you wanted to see me?”

Piper didn’t meet her eyes and mumbled something about not wanting to be out there again tonight.

“So why didn’t you wait inside? The door’s always open.”

Piper seemed scandalized by that: “You’re not a prisoner anymore. I couldn’t just walk into your privet room like it was any other place on the Condor. That wouldn’t be right.”

Lark shrugged and added: “Why don’t you come in now?”

Again, Piper seemed very nervous and looked for a way to escape Lark’s scrutiny: “It’s already very late and I think I should go to sleep. It has been a long day for all of us…”

Lark sighed. “Don’t try that with me, Piper. I’m not stupid and you know that. You were waiting here for me with a reason and I want to know why. So will you stop pretending and come in already?”

Piper seemed torn, but finally gathered her courage and went inside without another word and sat down on the only chair, leaving Lark with the bed. When both girls were seated Lark decided to start the conversation since Piper gave the impression she wouldn’t be able to do so herself.

“I hope you’re not here because you were worried about me.”

Piper looked confused: “Worried?”

“Yes, because of Danny…”

Piper’s eyes widened in realisation, but then she nodded earnestly. “No, I know you can deal with that on your own. And I know that you would go to either Dark Ace or probably me, if you couldn’t deal with it alone and needed help. You’re acting very grown-up with all this, more so then anyone else. Even more so then Dark Ace I’d say.”

Lark ignored that bit of information about her friend and former servant. She knew she wouldn’t be able to help him in this. He needed to find someone else who could help him forget. Instead she focused on the immediate problem of Piper’s.

“So what is the matter then?”

“I’m afraid it’s quite selfish…” Piper obviously wanted to flee the scene, but Lark didn’t let her. She put on her most stern look and ordered her: “So tell me. I swear I won’t get mad.”

“I… think I know why… why Dark Ace will never go out with you.”

Of all the things Lark had expected, this thought had never crossed her mind. With a sudden pang to her heart she instantly knew that he must finally have fallen for someone again. She was torn between feeling sad, because he would never be hers or feeling overjoyed because he had been alone for so long now and she wished him to be happy.

She was sure she knew why Piper was here and for whom Dark Ace had fallen. Their mutual attraction had been obvious to everyone who cared to take a closer look. Besides, she was good at thinking and analysis. Dark Ace wasn’t one to go for inexperienced children, so there weren’t many choices he could make.

Lark tried to hold her voice even, when she finally answered Piper.

“I take it he’s with Aerrow now. Did they tell you?”

“How do you know…?” But Piper stopped herself from finishing that question. She knew how bright Lark was and that the former Master Cyclonis had known Dark Ace and his preferences for a long time. Instead she decided to answer her question: “No. I saw them by accident. They weren’t wearing much and hurrying along to Aerrow’s room. At first I didn’t believe my eyes as I thought I may have seen them holding hands. But right in front of the door they couldn’t keep to themselves anymore and started kissing; obviously convinced that no one else was still up and able see them. You didn’t have to be very bright to guess what they were up to, when they both disappeared in Aerrow’s room.”

“Why did it make you cry?”

Piper touched her cheeks and eyes in an unconscious gesture, because she hadn’t known that her misery was so obvious to the other girl.

“I just don’t know. Probably because I always thought Aerrow and I would be a couple somewhere in the future. I know that’s stupid because we tried it out before and it just didn’t work, but still…”

Piper didn’t find the right words to describe how she felt, but the other girl sensed it and finished for her:

“You felt left behind. He went somewhere, where you can’t follow him.”

Piper thought that over and then she nodded earnestly.

“Does it bother you, that they are both men?”

Lark looked curious, and Piper tried to gauge her mood, but failed miserably. So she just shrugged and answered as earnestly as she could: 

“No, not really. When I thought about it the first few times, it kept feeling weird, but that was probably because I had never thought of Aerrow being gay. I know for a fact that he’d only been with girls so far and I never imagined him as being gay. But all in all, I don’t mind.”

Both girls got pretty quiet after that and kept their thoughts to themselves. Finally Lark muttered something that surprised Piper:

“You said they weren’t wearing much?”

“Yeah. I think they started this someplace else and decided to take it to elsewhere where no one else would disturb them.”

Lark suddenly sighed and looked envious.

“I bet they looked hot together.” 

Piper hadn’t been looking at Lark when she said that, but the dark skinned girl blushed furiously before amending: “You’re damn right about that… I knew how good Aerrow looked, but Dark Ace…”

“Is hot and sexy as hell. Believe me; you don’t have to tell me.” Lark looked at her and sighed again wistfully. Then, suddenly both girls started giggling.

“It’s really a waste, if you ask me.” Lark finally hiccupped when she tried to get herself under control again. Then she stood and walked over to her desk, where Piper was sitting: “I think this is the right time for this.” And with that she produced a really big bar of chocolate from her personal rations in her desk.

Soon both girls were munching away in bliss and still giggling now and then about their new discovery. Afterwards they made some evil plans about how to tease their favourite boys with the news they’d just learned.

*~*~*

In the meantime Dark Ace and Aerrow had finally reached their destination. Their journey to their quarters had been uneventful so far, although they had a little relapse outside Aerrow’s quarters when the door didn’t open quickly enough.

But now they were both sitting on Aerrow’s small bed and trying desperately to have a conversation about all this. This was especially hard on the teen, because his libido announced itself even more fiercely now that it had a taste of what was likely to come.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you… I had waited so long for you to make the first move it shouldn’t have been that difficult to wait a little while longer until you were ready for all this.”

“Don’t be stupid, Dark Ace.” Aerrow was exasperated. Somehow he didn’t seem to be able to convince the other man that this was exactly what he wanted. “It doesn’t suit you. I was just too chicken shit to make the first move, so everything’s fine now.”

“Still, this isn’t the right time for it. We should be mourning Danny and not…”

Aerrow nodded, but put a reassuring hand on Dark Ace’s thigh. “That may be, but who say’s we aren’t? And don’t even try to tell me that our feelings are just about loosing a friend. That’s bullshit, and you know it too.” 

“But you are so young and probably confused about all this…”

Okay, screw the conversation. Aerrow had wanted to talk because it seemed very important to the other man, but somehow he just couldn’t. He would never get through to his new lover with words. They could talk afterwards – he had never been good with words anyway. He was more a practical kind of guy.

So while Dark Ace went on and on about why this was such a bad idea, Aerrow slowly stood, made two steps into the other mans personal space and got right back down onto his knees. Dark Ace was wearing only boxer shorts and a kind of thin shirt since the shower, and the outline of his still half hard erection was clearly visible.

Aerrow didn’t think twice as he burrowed his face in the crotch of his former nemesis. The older man had been in the middle of a sentence like: “What the hell are you doing…?” when he broke abruptly off and groaned deeply. Still he put up some kind of resistance and tried to push the teen away: “This is a really bad idea…”

But Aerrow insisted by licking the thin fabric of the shorts and with it, the cock lying nestled beneath it before mumbling: “Hi, I’m Aerrow. Have we met?” Dark Ace groaned again, desperately. Then he suddenly grabbed hard at Aerrow’s red hair. But instead of getting pulled away, Aerrow’s face got only pushed harder against the other man’s crotch. 

“You don’t have the slightest idea what you are getting yourself into, boy!” 

Dark Ace warned a last time, growling, but also smirking this time because he knew he wouldn’t be able to change Aerrow’s decision. Besides, who was he to decline such a sweet and promising offer? He must have been raging mad to turn down the boy he had desperately wanted for so long.

Aerrow’s answer was muffled, but Dark Ace could understand him perfectly well: “So let’s find out!” The older man chuckled and finally pulled him away by his hair and made him stand up. Aerrow was pouting “Ow. Stop that and let me get busy, will ya!”

“No, I won’t. On the bed, Aerrow, and lose your stupid clothes on the way. We won’t need them.” As soon as he let go of his hair Aerrow followed his orders as quickly as he could, seeing out of the corner of his eyes that his partner was doing the same. When he sat down on the bed after what felt like an eternity, he was hit by another nude body and went down with a loud “Uff!”

Aerrow swallowed hard as he found himself in a very strange position. Dark Ace was wearing his usual smirk and towered over him, having him pinned down efficiently.

Aerrow flushed at the intense gaze of the other man and tried to cover his insecurities by asking cheekily: “So do you like what you see?”

He hadn’t expected such a deep rumbled “Yes!” as an answer. And he blushed even more, when the other man added: “You have no idea how much. I wanted to have you for revenge since the first time you managed to defeat me. I always thought I would have to force you one day, but life’s strange, isn’t it? Instead you just came to me out of your own free will, offering me your body as a present.”

Aerrow gulped. His heart was racing and he was taking deep breaths as if he had run ten miles. Although Dark Ace seemed in a strange mood and Aerrow believed that under other circumstances the man probably would have done what he’d said, he didn’t feel the slightest bit afraid. 

Somehow he could understand the feral wish to dominate. He’d felt it every time he’d battled the other man on his skimmer and he could feel it now. Still, he wanted to be in this position. He wanted to give the man this because somehow he knew that he would get his part too. Dark Ace was more complex than he appeared on the surface. Aerrow was pretty sure the day would come when he would be the one to top. But for now, he resigned himself to getting ravished.

So he smiled sweetly before muttering: “So, Now that you have me, are you gonna do me or what?”

“Still impatient, are we? But if you are so desperate for it, you’ll get it. Somehow I get the impression you’ll still be there tomorrow morning and perhaps with a little more patience for things like foreplay.”

Dark Ace let go of him and took the liberty to open his bedside table. Aerrow blushed again but didn’t move to stop him because he knew Dark Ace would find what he was looking for. Sure enough, after a minute or so Dark Ace grinned triumphantly. “So what have we gotten here? I think, this will do just fine.”

Dark Ace pushed the drawer shut and let the tube of lube fall on the bed beside them. 

“Care to tell me what you need this for? Do you have more experience than I thought?” Dark Ace asked mockingly, but Aerrow heard the earnest question beneath it so he answered truthfully: “Only with girls. I also like the glide of it when pleasuring myself and…” He blushed again, but he knew he had to look in Dark Ace’s eyes while telling him: “and since my mind has been occupied with visions of you lately, I used it to experiment on myself a little …”

Gods, his face was burning, but the look Dark Ace’s face was wearing was approving, so it didn’t feel as humiliating as he had thought it would be. 

“Good. So I take it that I don’t have to be too careful?”

“No, just go ahead. I’ll be fine.”

Dark Ace nodded, opened the lube and smelled it: “Mmh, minty. I think I like this stuff. Where did you get it?”

“Technically it’s over 10 Years old by now. I bought it on Terra Neon before we fought against you…ou…hou…” He hadn’t been able to finish his sentence, because during his answer Dark Ace had put a massive amount of the lube in his right hand and had started to smear it generously on Aerrow’s nether regions.

At first the lube had been ice cold and Aerrow had goose pimpled. He wanted to complain to the other man, but the smirk on Dark Ace’s face told him that it had been his intention to shock him. So he bit his lip and tried to stay calm until the stuff had warmed up enough so he could enjoy it. 

He didn’t have to wait long. As he had figured already, Dark Ace had very talented hands. While his left hand circled and stroked Aerrow’s cock in a maddeningly slow rhythm and tugged on his balls to make him see stars, his right hand sneaked down to explore the secret entrance it found there. 

The first breach had felt very strange, especially since he wasn’t controlling it himself. Even the ministrations on his cock hadn’t been able to distract from what was happening there, but he got accustomed to the feeling soon enough. He started to moan slightly to hurry the man along and he hissed sharply as Dark Ace returned with a new portion cold lube and two fingers.

Dark Ace chuckled at his reaction, while Aerrow tried as best he could not to tense up. Getting touched there so intimately felt different, but he felt silly lying with his legs opened wide to give Dark Ace the access he needed. He felt open and vulnerable and thought he must look pretty stupid, but when he caught sight of the intense look Dark Ace was wearing he reconsidered.

Somehow he got this weird idea that he was the one in control because he was the one allowing Dark Ace to do this. Aerrow could see a similar train of thought on the other man’s face.

So he opened his legs wider and kept urging him on more intensely.

“Please, come on! Do it already! I’ll be fine.”

Dark Ace looked suspicious and torn: “Sure?”

“Sure! Don’t make me wait any longer for you! I want to feel you in me now. I’ve waited way too long for it.”

With that, Aerrow gripped his pillow and put it under his ass, to improve the position, indicating which arrangement he would prefer. The amused glint in Dark Ace’s eyes told him that that was the exact position his lover had had in mind.

After a last check Dark Ace finally gripped the lube for the third time, warmed a considerable amount up and put it on his waiting and already twitching erection. It was an ego-boost without comparison for Aerrow to see the first drops of precome appear on its tip, just because Dark Ace was preparing to fuck him.

The older man finally gripped the base of his cock with his right hand and positioned himself between Aerrow’s opened legs. His left hand started stroking Aerrow again, while he began to push inside.

Aerrow felt different things simultaneously. He felt glad that it finally happened. He felt pain because the cock breaching his opening was bigger than everything he’d put in there himself during experimentation. He felt aroused because Dark Ace’s hand was still doing wonders to his own cock. He felt dizzy with the lust that was obscuring his mind. But most of all he felt himself falling in love when he saw the concern in the eyes of his lover as he entered him carefully.

Dark Ace made himself go pretty slow, and when Aerrow showed the slightest bit of pain he went slower still, which must have cost him a lot of willpower. But finally, after what seemed like an eternity he was all the way in. The movement stopped while both of them tried to get their breath back.

Finally Dark Ace closed his eyes in pure bliss and to get a grip on himself. He was sheathed so deep inside Aerrow’s body. Soon enough the redhead begged him to look again. Although Aerrow couldn’t articulate why it was important, but the reason was clear on his face and Dark Ace understood right away. The redhead needed the connection because he was incapable of much movement.

Dark Ace gave Aerrow some more time to adjust to the feeling of being filled and stretched. Then he started with tiny thrusts, experimenting a little, to see if it would be all right. But Aerrow was fine and he tried to prove it by moaning and whispering encouraging words in between his groans and quiet cries.

He had always been a vocal lover and he was glad to see that Dark Ace seemed to appreciate it. Encouraged by his lover’s enthusiasm he finally started to let go and take what was offered for his full enjoyment. He stopped stroking Aerrow’s erection and paused to grab Aerrow’s left leg and positioned it over his shoulder to get better access. His left hand held it there in a strong grip, while he used his right hand to pin Aerrow’s hands, which had been exploring Dark Ace’s body, over his head. 

This time it was Aerrow’s cock which leaked the first drops from lust, despite a lack of contact, simply because the redhead was so turned on by this new position. He felt utterly helpless now, but also loved, cherished and sheltered. His universe shrunk to his lover and his fierce and intense stare while he started fucking him mercilessly. 

It didn’t take long for his brain to explode into tiny pieces and bath everything in a golden glow – the colour his really good orgasms had. A few thrusts later (he couldn’t tell how many since his brain wasn’t working yet) he felt his lover coming too, deep inside of him, bathing his insides with his very essence.

Afterwards Dark Ace collapsed on him, but when he went to pull out and roll away, to give them room to breath, Aerrow closed his legs behind his waist and held him in place.

“Stay! Not heavy! Wanna feel ya!”

He knew that he wasn’t very good at conversation right now, but he hoped he had been able to get his meaning across. He sighed dreamily as Dark Ace finally really relaxed and his weight pushed him into the sheets. With that, both of them went to sleep.

*~*~*

When they woke, they felt awful. They had both slept in bad positions because the bed wasn’t big enough and both weren’t accustomed to sharing such a tiny sleeping space. Besides, they hadn’t bothered to wash away the evidence of their orgasms, so they had to deal with unpleasant crusted stains on the sheets and on themselves.

Still, both of them were grinning like madman when they looked at each other and shared a first, slightly awkward morning after kiss. Of course they ignored disturbing things like morning breath and sleepiness. 

“Gods, I really feel gross. Would you mind terribly if I had a hot date with your shower now?” Dark Ace finally asked, yawning. 

“No, go ahead. But…” Aerrow blushed. This seemed odd to Dark Ace, considering the passion of last night and the demands the teen had made so easily.

“What is it?”

“It’s still early and I could change the sheets…”

Dark Ace groaned: “Youth! I’m not sure I could get it up again so quick…”

“That wasn’t what I meant. Just… forget it. It was a stupid idea anyway.”

“Spill it or I’ll have to tickle it out of you!”

“Hey, not fair!” Aerrow protested, “I just wanted to ask if you would mind cuddling a while with me as soon as we have finished cleaning up…”

Dark Ace looked dumbstruck then he started grinning: “You’ll do the sheets and I’ll organize breakfast in bed, so we’ll have even more time before our day starts. Deal?”

“Deal.”

*~*~*

Our two lovebirds lay in blissed-out stupefaction after their cuddling session – which had turned in to a leisurely jerking off session, in spite Dark Ace’s earlier doubts. Then Aerrow suddenly remembered a question he had wondered about for a while.

He kept drawing circles on the other man’s abdomen while he pushed himself up to look his new lover in the eyes before asking:

“Would you tell me your real name? I mean Dark Ace is only a title, isn’t it?”

Dark Ace looked surprised at that question, but not shocked, so Aerrow felt slightly miffed at the bold and unexpected answer: “No.”

“Come one, we’re doing the horizontal tango in between the sheets! And you still won’t tell me your real name?”

“No.” Aerrow took a frustrated breath, before asking: “And why not?”

“Because Polochs don’t get names. They don’t deserve them.”

“So you’re saying that you don’t have a name?”

“Yes.“

“What about Anaris? He has a name.”

“Yes, I gave him one when I met him that first time.”

“Oh.” Aerrow wasn’t sure what to say to that. He wasn’t sure whether he should feel stupid or if the man was pulling his leg. When the teen didn’t say anything, Dark Ace added, “Don’t think about it too hard. It’s not important to me anymore. And since everybody uses Anaris’ new name now, it won’t be a problem for him either.”

“That’s really sad.”

“No, it’s just how things have been.”

They were both quiet for a while, before Aerrow asked another question: “So you like the name? ‘Anaris’ I mean.”

“It’s a good old Cyclonian warrior name. I thought it fit the boy as well as any other name.”

“So that wasn’t the name you wanted to name yourself?”

“No.”

“You told me, that you had to leave Terra Cyclonia pretty early in your life.”

“Yes.”

“So how did other Atmosian people refer to you? What did the former Storm Hawks call you? You were a Sky Knight after all.”

Aerrow knew he was walking on very thin ice, but he was glad that Dark Ace was still talking and hadn’t avoided him yet. He hadn’t wanted to disturb their peace so early, but he knew it was important for them to learn more about each other in order to make this relationship work.

Although he had expected something like this he was surprised by the sheer amount of pain the last question brought to his lover’s eyes. But still, he answered, although not in the way he had hoped:

“That name died the day I betrayed them. I don’t want to talk about it to you.”

“Okay. I accept that. But I still think you deserve a name too. So what would you call yourself?” 

“‘Dark Ace’ - It’s who I am.” Aerrow snorted. “You really want me to call you that in bed? Out there I can understand it, but you are more than that. You know that, right? Your title is only a part of you which you seem to keep hiding behind.”

“You are more than ‘Aerrow’ and still you like that name. I really don’t understand the problem.”

“Well, the problem is simple. I won’t call you ‘Dark Ace’ in bed. It just sounds silly. And you seemed to like how vocal I am in bed. You probably know how exciting it is to hear your own name moaned over and over by your lover…”

Aerrow smiled as Dark Ace’s breath hitched at that special suggestion, before he amended:

“Okay, okay, fine. You may have a point there. Although I still don’t know what’s wrong with ‘Dark Ace’, I could accept you giving me another name. But I insist that it’ll only be one I approve of.”

Aerrow looked playful. “Damn. ‘Snugglebunny’ will be out, right? That’s too bad.”

Dark Ace lifted an eyebrow at that but didn’t even dignify that with an answer.

“Did you have siblings?”

“Yes.” 

“What were their names?”

“My brother was called Zachary and my sister Zoe, after my grandmother.”

“So something with ‘Z’ should be the right way to go, I think.” The teen thought about the problem long and hard, before he finally muttered: “Oh, I got the right one!” 

“Spill it.”

“‘Zero’.”

Dark Ace’s face went blank before he suddenly growled dangerously, “you. Want. To. Call. Me. Zero??? Like as in ‘nothing’? I’m not sure I like that thought.” 

“Yeah, ‘Zero’. It’s just perfect, you’ll see.”

“So explain it to me before I lose my patience and do something to you that I’ll regret later!” Aerrow went white at that, because he wasn’t entirely sure that his lover was only kidding. He had a short temper after all, so he hurried to explain.

“First of all it rhymes with ‘hero’. ‘Zero’ the ‘hero’. After all that’s what you are to most of these kids out there. Second it’s an allusion to the fact, that you didn’t get a name, although you should have gotten one like anybody else. Third: You’re already the ‘Ace’. The only thing that could be sexier than that must be the zero. And forth: Since I stopped fighting you there’s no one in Atmos who can defeat you in a fight. And last but not least the fifth reason: ‘Zero’ is just perfect to get moaned and hissed.”

Aerrow let that stand between them before he resumed tracing patterns on his lover’s stomach, while he silently thought it over. Then finally, Aerrow let out his breath when Dark Ace started chuckling.

“Okay. You may use it without me killing you for it. But don’t you ever use it outside this room, not even in jest, or you won’t like the consequences.”

*~*~*

Radarr didn’t like that new smell on Aerrow one bit. He had been working for Stork on one of the new ship’s bridge to alter it to their needs. They needed a back up plan. As soon as the Federation learned that they wouldn’t get any more Cyclonian slaves, open fighting would ensure. They needed an escape vessel especially for the young children if things turned sour on this Terra.

Everything had been fine, until his friend had entered the bridge with Dark Ace and that one special child, which looked like the Talon Commander in miniature. Radarr had been able to smell the change right away. Of course he had smelled the attraction between them, but he had thought his best friend was intelligent enough not to act on it.

He instantly started growling at Dark Ace, baring his fangs and getting ready to attack the man. Aerrow looked curiously at him and tried to chide him, but he was too slow. In Radarr’s opinion the other man must have done something bad to Aerrow to make him act so strange, so he ignored his friend and jumped up to bite the Cyclonian.

But before he could reach the snarling man, who had encountered his teeth in the past, something really strange happened. The little boy sprang up in a clumsy attempt to prevent his hero from getting damaged and crashed with the advancing animal in midair.

They both fell to the ground and Aerrow and Dark Ace rushed to their sides. Aerrow instantly started chiding him again: “What the hell has gotten into you, Radarr? Are you feeling ill or something? You know perfectly well that Dark Ace is our friend now and…”

Radarr crossed his arms, sniffed once expressively and looked away, pouting. As the colour of Aerrow’s face indicated, he suddenly understood what exactly Radarr had guessed about his new found love life. He refused to show how embarrassed he really was and started making a calm explanation.

“Look, Radarr. I’m very grateful for your concern, but this has nothing to do with you. I know perfectly well what I am doing and nobody forced me to…”

Radarr didn’t let him finish and chirped at him, making faces and gesturing wildly. At the same time, Dark Ace was chiding little Anaris too:

“What the hell did you think you were doing, boy? You could have been seriously hurt. Don’t ever try something like that again. I’m capable for watching out for myself and I can defend myself against some stupid animal…”

He knew, he was speaking too harshly to the quiet and shy boy, but he couldn’t stop himself from berating him. He had thought his heart would stop beating as he saw the boy leaping in front of him. He definitely never wanted to see something like that again, although he expected the boy to start crying any second.

He was very surprised when the boy actually answered defiantly. His little chin jutted out in a way he must have mimicked from his personal hero, namely Dark Ace himself: “Radarr’s no stupid animal!”

Dark Ace was dumbstruck as he saw the angry face of the boy, which prevented him from exploding. Curiously he contradicted:

“He wanted to bite me for no reason whatsoever.”

“Yes, but that’s only, because he is very fond of Aerrow and was afraid that you hurt could him since you…” suddenly the boy grew red around the ears, but he steeled himself with courage and finished. “Started h… hav… having sex yesterday.”

That made all of them shut up, even the mad and furious Radarr.

“How could you tell?” Aerrow dared to ask, knowing that it was futile to deny it, especially, because he wasn’t ashamed of his decision. In fact he was so relaxed and happy, that he would like to shout it from the roofs, or at least over the intercom of the Condor. He had come here to tell his friends about this change in his relationship status right away, to prevent any misunderstandings. The other man was his now, and from his point of view, everyone should know it – even those stupid idiots from the Federation.

It was futile to deny, especially the sex part, since the Cyclonian kids all learned very early on about the mechanics of making children. They had needed to know early about it – their heirs were important to all of them. Still it was strange to see a boy that age talking about it this naturally.

The boy blushed a deeper shade of red, but snorted. 

“Come on, you were giving each other those big goofy grins all day, it was very obvious. And did you really think I didn’t notice you holding hands behind my back? You’re not invisible and I’m not stupid. You do know that, right?

Dark Ace sighed deeply and then answered: “Yes. We know. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you right away.”

“You should be. I thought we were friends after all, but obviously…” 

Now the boy looked as if he would start crying, but Dark Ace didn’t dare touch the boy yet. He could deal with being expelled from society and getting insulted, but he wasn’t very experienced with giving comfort to a sad friend – not even to little Anaris – especially not if he had been the one to disappoint him. Cyclonis had always been different. She was strong right from the beginning and she had needed different kinds of consolation.

So it was Radarr who actually went over and hugged Anaris tightly to the surprise of both men. They hadn’t known they knew each other at all, but obviously Radarr and Anaris must have become friends in the last few weeks. Radarr started chirping again and Anaris listened closely to him before he finally started smiling again, although it looked a little sad and bitter.

“Yes, I know Dark Ace is still my friend. But I’m still a little mad at him.” He told the animal confidently, seemingly oblivious to the fact, that both men where hearing every word he uttered and looking at the pair as if they had both grown a second head.

Radarr chirped again, and this time both men understood, that this must have been some kind of question, although Anaris alone seemed to be able to understand the actual words. His sad smile grew and he petted the animal’s head absently before answering:

“I’m just not used to getting disappointed by friends, because I never had friends before. I don’t know what the right way to react is because nobody ever wanted to be my friend before these guys came to us.”

When Radarr started chirping again and started getting agitated, Anaris added: “Look, I know you are concerned about Aerrow, but how can you be believe that Dark Ace is a good friend to me and on the other hand believe him to be bad for Aerrow?”

Here the boy started whispering, so the adults couldn’t here him anymore, “I think they are happy, is that so bad? It was funny to watch them grinning so silly all day!”

Radarr actually chuckled at that, but still glanced suspiciously from Aerrow to Dark Ace. He occasionally growled at Dark Ace before looking back at Aerrow. The redhead knelt down beside them and started petting the animal and then he stroked the boy’s head.

“Thank you, Anaris. As for you Radarr…” he turned to his friend “Anaris is right. I am happy. More then ever before. I know you are still suspicious of him. But he won’t hurt me, I promise.”

Radarr looked long and hard at all three of them and then looked at the floor for a while before slowly nodding.

“And you don’t have to get jealous. You are still the best friend and co-pilot I could ever wish for. Besides, it looks as if you gained at least one new friend too.” Aerrow smiled, when he nudged the animal fondly. This made Radarr aware that he was purring under Anaris’ ministrations, like he used to only do with Aerrow.

Radarr went a little violet around the nose in embarrassment, but finally nodded again.

Dark Ace used the quiet moment to get Anaris’ attention back. “So we are still friends? Although I behaved stupidly?”

“Are you still mad at me for preventing Radarr from hurting you?”

Dark Ace looked sternly at the boy, but started chuckling when he took him in his arms. “No. It was a very stupid thing to do, but also very brave. And I feel flattered that such a brave boy wants to be friends with me.”

Aerrow smiled at everyone contentedly, before asking:

“Since everything’s alright again, could we now get on with our mission and tell everyone about the good news?”

*~*~* 

They got very different reactions from their friends as they told them the good news, but they didn’t get any expected responses. It had started with Radar and Anaris acting strange, but the others acted even more abnormally.

They parted ways to tell it and the next Storm Hawk Aerrow encountered was Stork, who had been busy working on the Federation ship and making necessary changes.

“Hey Stork, I wanted to tell you something…”

As soon as the Merb turned around to look at him, his lips set in a grim line, before he rolled his eyes and murmured sarcastically: “We’re doomed.” 

Although that had been a typical reaction for Stork, Aerrow felt slightly miffed, because he hadn’t actually told him the news yet. But when he tried to remedy that, he was interrupted without having the chance to even start his little speech.

“Spare it Aerrow. I know exactly why you are here. So you finally did it, huh? I wondered how long it would take you two.”

“How…?” Did everyone know about it already? Aerrow felt like he was in the twilight zone.

The Merb just snorted and rolled his eyes again before adding, “I thought you two were smart enough to stay out of each other’s pants, but obviously I underestimated your desire to dominate one another. It was clear you two would need an outlet for that as soon as you stopped fighting each other…”

The paranoid Merb continued with his theory, but Aerrow didn’t want to hear him rant anymore. He just shook his head in disbelief before he went to search for the next Storm Hawk.

*~*~*

“Yo, Piper, wait! I have to tell you something!”

“Can’t this wait Aerrow? I really need to hurry to my lab. I’ve got to supervise this new experimental energy source I’ve been working on with Lark.”

“I could accompany you and tell you about it on the way, if you don’t mind. It’s really important.”

“If you wish. Let’s go.” 

They hurried along the corridors, and suddenly Aerrow felt nervous. He had been friends with Piper for so long and he felt bad for not having told her about his feelings before. He had always done so in the past, but with Dark Ace and the discovery that he had started lusting after men – or one man in particular, (his former nemesis no less) – he just hadn’t dared tell her anything about it. He was sure this would shock her, so he had a problem finding a good way to say it and go as easy on her as he could.

“So what is it? I thought it was important? Why the silence?”

Aerrow blushed, still not knowing how to start. Suddenly Piper came to an abrupt halt and became annoyed with him. “This is about you and Dark Ace, right? Gods, you’re such a spoilsport.”

Aerrow was too shocked to articulate anything more sensible than: “Huh?”

But Piper was already in a rant, much like Stork had been only minutes before: “Of course you couldn’t keep it to yourself a little while longer. Lark and I made so many evil plans to tease you about it, but they only worked so long as you weren’t out yet. You just had to go and destroy our fun, didn’t you? Now we have to take another long night to think of ways how to tease you after your confession…”

Piper had resumed walking to her lab while giving him this lecture, but he hadn’t gone with her. As he saw her disappearing behind the next corner, he just turned and went to the mess. He needed something to eat before he could face any more of this. 

The only consolation was that Dark Ace obviously had to deal with a knowing Lark. He was very curious about how that would turn out.

*~*~*

Aerrow was unlucky and he found Junko sitting in the mess, eating a heap of food no one else would dare to eat. So Aerrow took a deep breath, steeled himself and went over to his team member.

“Hey Junko? How’re you doing?”

Junko barely even looked up from his meal. His shoulders were slumped und he looked really sad.

“Do you have a minute for me?”

Junko nodded, although barely signalising he’d heard him at all.

“Buddy, are you alright? You’ve seemed pretty down lately…”

“I’m fine.” Suddenly Junko looked even sadder, but the stubborn Wallopp was obviously in no mood to share his problems with his friends yet. Aerrow made a mental note to tell Finn about it and make him talk to Junko – they were best friends and the blonde could usually make Junko talk about his sorrows.

“I want to tell you something. I told Piper and Stork before, and they knew about it, so you’ll probably know about it too, but I just want to make sure.”

“What is it?”

Aerrow felt stupid. “You don’t know it yet?”

“What?”

“Me and Dark Ace being an item from now on…”

Junko suddenly sprang up and glared at him really annoyed. Aerrow was really glad that the Wallopp wasn’t wearing his knuckle busters, although Junko could hit him pretty hard without them too.

“I hadn’t known it would make you so mad… I know, this is a stupid idea and stuff. He didn’t make me or anything, you shouldn’t be…”

“I would have thought better of you, Aerrow!”

“Come on, he’s really attractive, and you know how intent I’ve been on fighting him even before we left Atmos…”

“How could you come to me and tell me about your happy love life? That’s just mean. Come on put salt into my bleeding wounds!” With that, Junko turned and left in a rush.

Aerrow stayed back at the mess and wasn’t entirely sure they had been talking about the same thing. He really didn’t know when he’d lost Junko’s train of thought.

*~*~*

Finn’s reaction was the creepiest by far. Aerrow found him at the hospital, staring holes into defenceless air. 

“Yo, Finn? You in there?”

“Oh, hi Aerrow. What can I do for you?”

“I just wanted to tell you some good news.”

“Yeah? Shoot!”

“First promise to let me finish and not to get angry at what I tell you.”

That made Finn grin. “That bad, huh? Come on, shoot! I’m pretty sure after my last few weeks there’s nothing what will shock me anymore…”

“It’s about Dark Ace and… and me. We’re kind of together now.”

Aerrow expected Finn to get a heart attack or something, considering he was the last one to accept Dark Ace and Lark into their group, but he actually seemed pretty relaxed.

“So it was you he was talking about. That makes sense…” the blonde mumbled to himself, not really responding to the news.

“You’re not shocked or angry?”

Finn looked at him irritated. “Should I be?”

Aerrow shrugged helplessly. He felt as if he didn’t know his friends anymore. Finn acting strange wasn’t such a surprise considering this day.

“Probably not. Piper was only mad because I spoiled her fun with teasing me about it and Stork had known it even before we knew. Don’t get me even started on Radarr’s or Junko’s reactions – I’m still not entirely sure I understand them at all.”

“So how does it feel?”

“What do you mean? It feels a bit strange to care for your former enemy, but sometimes our past life feels so far away…”

“No, I meant the sex. Tell me everything. What did you do? Did you feel strange kissing a man? What positions did you try out? Who topped? Have you bottomed already? Have you blown him? How did it feel…?”

Aerrow fled the scene as fast as he could while Finn rumbled on with his questions, lost in his own thoughts.

*~*~*

Lark actually giggled when Dark Ace told her. He couldn’t believe it and stared at her for over five minutes before he could finally pull himself together and lift an irritated and questioning eyebrow.

Never in his lifetime had he seen her giggling before and he couldn’t believe how much Lark had changed since they had come back to Atmos. When he finally got a grip on himself again, and she quieted down enough, he listened intently as she explained:

“Come on, old friend. Did you really think you could hide it from me? Did you really forgot, that I’m used to knowing about everything that happens around me?”

“No, I knew, that you had knowledge about my past with men, but Aerrow and I only started this yesterday, so how could you have known about it so fast?”

“That, my dear friend, will be for you to find out because I sure won’t tell you about my secret ways of knowing things.”

Dark Ace only groaned and let her have her way because he knew there was nothing he could do to make her tell if she didn’t want to.

At least he’d told her now, and she was obviously fine with it and even seemed to be glad for him. So now he could return to his lover and see how he had been doing so far.

*~*~*

It was unbelievable how so many things could go wrong in such a short time. Every Storm Hawk felt like dying from exhaustion any second and the kids who weren’t injured or dead were in no better condition.

Although they had expected something like this in the near future, the shear quantity of Federation ships and fighting Sky knights was making everything hopeless. 

At first they had managed to defeat the Sky Knights, when they came for new slaves. They had done a great job. But even when they beat them the second time, The Sky Knights still came back again with more ships and fighters.

About an hour ago an especially arrogant Sky Knights had stolen Anna from them. She was still pregnant and hadn’t been able to defend herself properly. Of course Junko had gone into a red rage, when he heard about it, but even his strength couldn’t do anything against the countless enemy forces.

So they had only one chance left to give them enough time to evacuate Terra Cyclonia and leave their new home once and for all. Piper, Lark, Finn and Junko were organizing the evacuation with Stork on the Condor and five other ships, while Dark Ace, Aerrow, Radarr and the older kids, who could still fight, started a diversion.

Of course, they had another mission as well. They wouldn’t let Anna stay behind – especially not with that monster of a man. But they lost the race against time. While the other team members made their escape with the best possible outcome, they needed too much time to spare Anna her encounter with that bastard. 

When they finally found her, he was already pulling his armour back on, while she was still lying unconscious, naked and beaten on the bed in his room. 

Aerrow felt something mad roar deep inside of him at that sight. It was something insidious and dark that he had always been aware of, but had never let loose. He had known for a long time that he wouldn’t be the same if he let out the beast that lived inside him. 

His blades were out and activated without him remembering doing it and they were buried deep inside the belly of the offending man before he knew what hit him. He felt the hot blood staining his uniform. The metallic smell of the liquid made him sick. 

Suddenly he felt a stare on him while he took in his blood stained hands and blades. He saw his lover watching him with a concerned look on his face. Dark Ace suddenly rushed toward him. Aerrow’s legs gave way, and he crashed heavily to the floor beside the dying man. Out of the corner of his eye Aerrow could see the other teens running to Anna, where they covered her as best they could, and helped her onto their skimmers, which were parked outside.

“Aerrow? Aerrow? Do you hear me? Come on, I need you to focus!”

Dark Ace was crouching down beside him and tried to get his attention. The former Talon Commander gripped Aerrow’s shoulders so hard that it hurt and suddenly the younger man felt hot, pleading lips pressed against his own ice cold mouth. That got his attention, and as he pulled back, he could focus on the concerned look of his lover. In shock he saw, that the man was crying, and he touched the tears with shivering hands, trying to understand what the man was saying to him.

“…hoped, you would never learn, how awful it feels to take a life. But it’s too late now, and I know that you must be hurting badly, but I need you to stay focused. Can you do that for me?”

Although Aerrow only seemed to understand the last sentence he nodded because he would do anything for Dark Ace. Right at that moment he was after all the only person who kept him from falling apart.

“Good, because we need to get away from here, do you understand? We will deal with this when we are safely away, but right now we need to escape. We need to stay alive to keep fighting. Without us, the children will be lost! Please, you have to come and flee with me!”

Aerrow nodded again, although he still felt sick. But with the help of his lover and Radarr, who had rushed to his side in the meantime, he succeeded in getting on his skimmer and escaping.

*~*~*

Although their leader wasn’t able incapacitated, with Lark’s help, the rest of the Storm Hawks accomplished the escape. Soon enough everyone heard what had happened in that Federation ship. This meant that nobody tried to talk to Aerrow or Dark Ace, when they arrived at the Condor and went to the redhead’s quarters.

Only once there and safely inside did the strong and courageous leader of the Storm Hawks finally break down and started to cry. Dark Ace swept him off the floor and carried him to his bed, undressing him as effectively as he could to get him out of the blood stained clothes. All the while he mumbled soothing nothings to the boy to make him feel safe.

Then he put the trembling boy under the covers, stripping himself as quickly as he could and lying down beside him, wrapping him in his warm arms and holding on tight. Aerrow grieved and cried in his arms for a long time, before he slowly quieted down again. Soon he had wept himself into an exhausted and restless sleep.

When he woke some hours later he had to pry the arms of his equally exhausted and sleeping lover from around him by force. Then he ran to the toilet and was violently sick. When he finished puking, he felt the presence of his lover behind him and felt embarrassed, angry and sad at the same time, so he mumbled:

“Go away.” But Dark Ace contradicted.

“No. You need me and I won’t leave your side until you are yourself again. Nobody should be alone with something like this.”

“I’m not a child anymore, Dark Ace!” Aerrow retorted angrily.

“I know that. I still won’t go.”

Dark Ace went over to the boy, knelt and touched him on his arm, but Aerrow drew away and hissed angrily: “How could you stand touching a murderer like me?”

Dark Ace sighed deeply before touching Aerrow again and stroking his side softly. He answered with a bitter smile: “I have kept asking myself the very same question for over three months now, since our first night together.”

When the implications of that statement hit Aerrow his eyes widened in shock and he hurried to explain. “I didn’t mean it that way. I know you have changed…”

“Shush, Aerrow.” Dark Ace laid a finger over Aerrow’s mouth before looking him directly in the eye. “It’s okay. Everything will be okay. I’ll probably never understand how you could forgive me, forgive who I’d been before, but I know one thing for sure: I love you. I may not deserve you, but I love you. And I’ll be here as long as you need and want me. So everything will be oka…” 

He couldn’t finish his little speech, because Aerrow stopped him by hugging him tightly again and crying, but his answer was still loud enough for him to hear: “I love you too.”

It was only after that, that Dark Ace let himself finally relax and release a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. He swept the boy up again and carried him back to the bed. Because now he knew too, that everything would be all right in the end.

*~*~*

Right at the same time Anna regained consciousness. She felt sore and every part of her body hurt. She was shocked when her first move was to feel for her belly. What she felt there made her sob loudly. Her child wasn’t there anymore, and instead she felt a bandage over her flat belly.

Junko sat on a chair beside her bed and was fast asleep with his head on the covers right beside her left arm. He awoke instantly and tried to calm her down.

“Shh, please listen, Anna. Everything is fine. Your boy is alright. He was hurt and we couldn’t let you carry him anymore, but he is old enough to survive. Everything will be alright.” 

“Where is he?” Anna was still sobbing and had trouble breathing, feeling as if everything that happened would choke her.

“He’s sleeping in the next room, waiting for you to wake up.”

“Can I see him? Can you bring me to him?”

“You’re too weak yet to walk, but I’ll call for Finn. He’s watching over your little boy, he’ll bring him over. Alright?”

Anna nodded, still trying to calm herself down. Junko stood and walked the few steps to call for Finn, who brought the boy over within the next two minutes. 

Anna started crying again, but this time not out of fear or sadness as she closed her arms around her precious little boy. He was a little shorter and lighter than Cyclonian babies usually were because he had had to leave his mother’s body early through an operation, but he looked healthy and was sound asleep. He didn’t even feel it when he was handed over to his mother.

Finn and Junko wanted to leave the two alone, but Anna stopped them. 

“You can both stay. You’ve done so much for us, and I wanted to thank you for it. All of you.”

Junko made a strangled noise and Anna and Finn could see how hard he was being on himself over this whole affair.

It was Finn, who spoke up first, but to Anna instead of Junko, making them both stare at him in bewilderment.

“Anna? I’ll leave you three alone now. Call for me if you’re getting tired. I’ll watch over your boy as long as you sleep. I know, something really bad happened to you, but I want to give you some advice, which I hope will help. Junko’s a good guy and it’s obvious, that you like each other. Considering the last few terrible events, life’s too short not to enjoy it. Your boy will need a father too. You should at least try it together. You’d make a great couple.”

They both stared at him, still stunned, before he left the room with a final smile in their direction. Silence fell between them and they didn’t look at each other.

It was Anna, who finally spoke up: “I can’t expect that of you Junko. I can’t expect you to be there for me or my boy, just because I’m alone and because I like you. Besides, I feel filthy now. I don’t know how you can stand…”

“Stop this nonsense, Anna. That stupid man was filthy, and he will never be able to hurt anyone again. Aerrow made sure of that. You don’t have to fear him anymore…”

“Really?” Anna started shivering in disgust as she started remembering what had happened, but as she remembered her little boy in her arms, she calmed down again as a wave of love for the boy rushed through her. 

“Really. And Finn’s right. I do like you and don’t want to be there for you because I obligated. I want you and I want you both. Can you please believe me?”

Junko took a couple of steps to her side and placed a hand Anna’s arm and the other her little baby boy.

“Will you give me a chance to help you through this?”

“Yes.”

*~*~*

*thump, thump, thump*

Stork was working overtime. He was used to it since they were refugees and on the run from the evil forces of the Federation. What he wasn’t used to, was having nearly constantly company while doing so. As a result, somewhere on the way, he just lost his patience and snapped at the other teen in the room.

“What in the nine hells do you want from me, Finn?”

“I just want to keep you company. That’s all.” The blonde smiled reassuringly and got back to playing with the little ball he had brought with himself.

*thump, thump*

“Can’t you play somewhere else with that ball? You’re seriously getting on my nerves.”

“But elsewhere I couldn’t keep you company!” Finn argued with his patented look-how-cool-and-intelligent-I-am-look.

“So why don’t you stop playing with that stupid ball at least?”

“Because it helps me think.”

“I seriously doubt that,” Stork mumbled to himself before adding louder, so the blonde could hear it too, “well, it prevents me from thinking, so could you stop it? It’s driving me mad, and there are too many things which still need to get fixed.”

“Yes, that’s exactly, what I was thinking about.”

“As terrifying as this may sound, I’m curious: how so?”

“I was thinking about what you told me, that Merbs need some release from the constant tension, they’re under.”

Finn stopped playing with the ball and stood up, crossing the room to stand directly next to where Stork had crouched down to work on the consoles of the Condor.

At first, Stork didn’t know what the teen was referring too, but than he remembered his little loss of temper and the kiss he’d forced on the blonde. Somehow he got the feeling that he was doomed.

“So?” he dared to ask, dreading the answer.

“So…” Finn drew the syllable longer than strictly necessary before finally finishing the sentence with “…I thought I could provide you some of the tension release you need.”

Still buried under the consoles Stork whispered to himself: “Oh no, why me? Why always me? Seriously fate, did I do anything to piss you off so royally?” Louder he added, so that the blonde teen would hear, “and why in the nine hells do you believe I’d need your help with that?”

“Ah, that’s easy. Because I’m the only one available right at the moment and because you kissed me – so this was partly your idea and I went just along, so don’t pretend otherwise.”

That went too far and Stork finally freed himself from the guts of his beloved Condor to face the annoying blonde teen. He put his arms put on his hips glaring at him: “I just wanted to shut you up. Nothing more. Don’t think so highly of yourself. Besides, there are plenty other ways to relieve my stress level.”

“You’re lying. You wouldn’t touch one of the Cyclonian teens.”

Finn was right, but Stork wasn’t about to admit that.

“Even the young ones behave more maturely than you, so why wouldn’t I?”

“Most of them can’t believe they have a chance for real freedom, so most of them aren’t thinking about getting a relationship in any way with only a few exceptions. Besides that, they aren’t attracted to you the way I am.”

That hit the Merb like a bomb.

“You claim to be attracted to me? We should get you to a doctor. You must be infected with mind worms…”

For the first time Finn looked a little miffed at Stork’s refusal to believe his words. “I’m not affected by mind worms. Why shouldn’t I be attracted to you?”

An incredulous stare was his only answer for a few seconds before Stork exploded: “Oh I don’t know, because of like a zillion reasons? I don’t even know where to start to answer this one! What about this: You do know that I’m not a girl, right?”

At that, Finn smiled broadly and looked self-confident again. “Of course I know you’re a male. But on the other hand, you wear your hair pretty long and you do shriek like a girl when you get one of your panic attacks…”

Ignoring that particular taunt Stork continued his list. “I’m no Atmosian either. I’m a Merb.”

“So what? I’ve seen you naked before, there wasn’t much of a difference beside the green skin and the yellow eyes and the wrong numbers of toes and fingers.”

“Well… I don’t do relationships either.”

“I was talking about sexual related stress relief, not about getting more stress by forming a relationship.”

Stork had to say, that he did like that specific answer, although this thing was still not an option for him.

“And why do you believe I would want to be with someone who I know is inexperienced?”

“Because that way you could educate me about the exact way you want to get laid. I’ve always been an eager student at things I wanted to learn.” Finn wiggled his eyebrows and Stork rolled his eyes at him, admitting only in his own mind, that he was impressed at how good Finn was doing at the medics and as a sharpshooter.

“But…”

Finn took some steps into his personal space while Stork tried to flee, but he got pinned between the next wall and the blonde’s body. 

“Come on! No ‘buts’ anymore. Why don’t you give me a chance? I’m here, I’m willing to try, and if it’s really bad we can stop it anytime. What do you say…?”

Considering his shallow breathing and the unexpected reaction in his nether regions due to the proximity of the blonde sharpshooter, Stork decided to go with what his body obviously wanted despite the contradictions his mind had on that matter. 

That was the way he had always operated in his life, so he just shrugged and gripped the surprised blonde by the front of his shirt and without any more words pulled him along to his personal quarters.

*~*~*

Finn was nearing a nervous breakdown. He had been serious when he had approached Stork half an hour ago, but if he was honest with himself, he had never considered the possibility that the Merb would actually go along with his suggestion.

Stork had shoved him right into his bathroom, when they reached his quarters with the order to take a thorough shower. Finn had done as asked, although he had shivered nervously all the time under the warm spray. He had focused more on getting his breath under control as he pondered the events that would likely happen afterwards.

He had felt ashamed when he learned that Stork knew he was still a virgin despite his many attempts to change that fact. But on the other hand he didn’t have to pretend to know things. That was some kind of relief after all.

After he had finished his shower he was unsure how he should go back to the bedroom. Should he stroll in completely naked? Should he dress again? In the end he decided on a compromise. He put a towel around his hips and crumpled his clothes to a ball, which he put under his arm and steeled himself to go back into the room.

When he arrived he saw that Stork was only wearing his skull-boxers and Finn had to swallow hard. The Merb pointed wordlessly to one of the chairs in his room and Finn obediently put his clothes down on it.

“Make yourself at home, while I take my own shower. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Finn nodded, not really daring to look at the Merb when he passed him and disappeared in to the bathroom. Then Finn released the breath he didn’t know he had been holding and looked nervously around. He hadn’t been to Stork’s room before, but he decided that it looked comfy. 

The bed was bigger than his own, which he was grateful for, because he probably wouldn’t have liked to share such a small space with another person. In the bathroom the shower went on and Finn felt more at ease looking around the bedroom. 

There where some technical maps hanging on the walls and on some shelves bearing little models of skimmers and ships. In one corner stood a little wardrobe with Stork’s uniforms and some attire for his spare time.

When the shower was turned off again, Finn got nervous again, but decided to lie on the bed. He would go through with this. He was tired of being a virgin for once and for all.

So he was laying down when Stork came back into his bedroom still towelling his hair dry and – thankfully – still wearing another towel around his hips too. When his look fell on him he started a little and Finn blushed, asking self-consciously: “What is it?”

Stork shrugged: “I thought you would have left by now. I gave you ample time to flee…”

Finn crossed his arms angrily. “I won’t okay? I meant what I said, even… even if I’m a little nervous.”

Stork looked suspiciously at him and furrowed his brow again. “And you’re really sure you aren’t affected by mindworms? I could send you to a doctor…”

Finn sighed deeply: “Once again, I AM the doctor around here Stork. I would know if those little beasts were infecting me. I’m perfectly fine, healthy and…” he flushed a little and wasn’t sure he could actually say that, but then he took all his courage and finished the sentence: “and horny. So do you care to do something about that or am I wasting my time with you?”

He had been speaking agitated, so his towel had loosened a little around his waist and the view gave proof that he hadn’t lied about being aroused. He felt Stork’s speculating stare and blushed a little more but stopped himself from covering up again. Instead he leant back and let Storks eyes feast on the view – which they obviously did. 

Finn had been right after all – although Stork probably didn’t consider this a real possibility before their confrontation, he had been attracted to him. The kiss had clearly shown it.

When Stork could finally tear his eyes away again he wore a smug grin, as he loosened his own towel and let it fall to the floor. Then he stalked directly to him and crawled the rest of the way over the bed and pushing him down on the covers before leaning in and whispering against his lips. “So let’s see, what kissing skills you have managed to achieve until now.”

In the light of the following kiss everything that Finn had known about kisses so far just disappeared. This felt fucking gorgeous, and he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t die of the pleasure that arose in him. Of course this had to do with the fact that he answered the kiss as best he could, but Stork hadn’t overstated his experience. He really knew what he was doing.

A lot of the following things happened in a rush – at least to Finn, because he lost all sense of time. He knew Stork was very patient with him and guided him along the first awkward strokes and touches and the following kisses. Everything the Merb was doing to him felt so damn good. It didn’t feel strange or awkward at all that another boy was doing those things to him.

Both had started sweating and Finn had problems staying quiet lying on his back while Stork explored his chest. Some time ago he had replaced the touches of his hands with the touch of his tongue and Finn couldn’t do much more than take it and keep from moaning desperately, begging silently for more and more.

But after a while Stork’s ministrations suddenly stopped and he grinned down at the blonde boy until Finn opened his eyes to look back.

“So tell me, Mr. Sharpshooter, how far exactly do you want to take this… experimentation?”

That brought Finn a beautiful blush covering not only his face and neck but his ears as well.

“Everything had been fine so far, why do you have to force me to talk about it?” he grumbled as an answer, nervously looking everywhere but at the Merb.

“Because…” and here Stork paused to force Finn to look at him by grabbing his chin and turning his head “…sex is about knowing preferences if you want to make it good. And I won’t waste my precious time with useless experimentation if I know more effective ways of getting this done.”

“But I don’t know what I won’t like yet.” Finn crossed his arms defiantly and looked sour despite his obvious embarrassment “As you pointed out, I don’t know anything yet about sex.”

Stork snarled at that and leaned in to steal another breathtaking kiss before grinning down on him again, while Finn stared back, dazed.

“I hope you don’t try to tell me that you never thought about sex before, because I won’t believe it for a second. I’m pretty sure you know your boundaries quite well and it’s just you’re to shy to admit them yet. But I won’t have any of that. This doesn’t work without communication, so tell me Finn, how far do you want to take this tonight? Tell me, or I’ll make you leave and we will forget about this and never talk of it again. It’s your choice.”

Finn’s blush only deepened when he considered this. Stork’s intense look made him shiver whenever he let their eyes meet and he had felt earlier that Stork was equally aroused. So why make this so complicated? Finn knew how much Stork liked to talk, but it had never seemed as if he would welcome talking with Finn. So why was talking suddenly so important?

Finn couldn’t figure it out and when he didn’t give an answer he suddenly felt Stork standing up from the bed with a sad look on his face. That look pushed Finn’s awkwardness aside and actually made him talk against his better judgement and embarrassment.

He stopped the Merb from getting of the bed completely and started babbling. “Okay fine. I don’t think I can…” The blonde broke up again. He just couldn’t bring himself to say the words, unlike the time he had tried to interrogate Aerrow, but he was surprised when Stork smiled down on him. “I don’t care which words you use. Just tell me what you want and what you don’t. You’ve been awfully quite the last hour and I don’t want to do something that will scare you away from this. Sex is important. It should make you feel really good and it shouldn’t be something you feel obliged to do because everybody else seems to do it.” 

“Okay, I’ll try.” Finn took a deep breath and thought how he could make himself clear without having to say the dreaded words. 

“I don’t think I’m up to…” here he lifted his hand and touched his own backside in an obvious gesture “…yet. Is that alright?” He hated how unsure he sounded and the fact that his hands had been shivering, but Stork just nodded earnestly and without any disapproval. 

“I figured as much. That’s why I’ve been asking. What else?”

Finn was at a loss. Silently he started to understand what Stork was trying to tell him. Although he didn’t like to admit it, even to himself, he had been focussed the last few minutes only on this one problem. He hadn’t known if it would turn out bad if he refused that one thing he feared flat out and this fear had erased all other thoughts about possible pleasures. 

Stork had seemed to know about all this and had acted that way to make him aware. Taking this in consideration, Stork must be a hell of a great lover.  
So Finn tried his best to cooperate.

“I’m seriously at a loss here, I haven’t been thinking about much else…”

“Okay, then let us try something else. I make some suggestions and you answer with nodding or shaking your head. How does that sound?”

Stork earned a relieved nod at that, so he started his little interrogation.

“What about more kissing?”

That earned him another wild and encouraging nod at which he smiled broadly.

“So what about kissing here?”

He lifted his hand and placed it directly on Finns momentarily shrinking erection. Or was it rousing again already? He somehow couldn’t tell anymore as Finn moaned deeply at that and pushed against his hand before he drew it away again. The blonde needed time to focus again before he understood that Stork still waited for an answer.

Before Finn found the nerve to nod Stork managed to add another part to the last question: “And would you reciprocate?”

Still Finn looked not only determined but downright hungry as he licked his lips and nodded earnestly and lustful.

Although Stork was tempted he didn’t stop the interrogation there. There where a few other things he needed to know as well.

“What about kisses here?”

He pointed to Finns backside and even without having him shake his head the look of utter surprise and slight disgust made clear that wasn’t an option yet.

“And kisses here?”

Now he pointed to Finn’s toes and the blonde’s surprise seemed to find no end as he finally mumbled: “You’re kidding me, right?”

Stork took the liberty of another mind-blowing kiss before he whispered hot against Finn’s mouth, sounding amused, “I never make fun in normal life, why should I make it in bed? Actually Merb’s are really sensitive on their toes and on their ears – that’s why we wear piercings and no shoes and why I demanded a shower for both of us before this – to clean our feet. But you can relax, I said I won’t force you to anything you don’t want to do. It was just a question. I know it’s not a common practice for humans.” With that he leaned in and conquered the blonde’s mouth again. 

Finally Stork asked his last question for the moment: “So what about swallowing? I need to know if I have to warn you or not.”

Finn was torn; Stork could see it right away. But it was a good sign that he was starting to relax, because he hadn’t even blushed at the suggestion. So he HAD been thinking about it and wondering… When no answer came and Finn just shrugged helplessly Stork decided to go easy on him.

“Okay, I’ll warn you, so it’ll be up to you during the heat of the moment. I don’t mind, if you don’t want to. I’d feel bad if I were to force you in to anything, okay?”

“Yes. I gathered that much. I just don’t know yet. So…” The blonde wore a hopeful expression and it was clear he was eager to get on with it. Who was Stork to deny him that wish? He smirked, before he stated: “So let’s see about your multi-tasking-abilities then.”

And with that he pushed Finn back onto the bed on his side, turned around and put them both in a perfect start for a 69er. Of course Finn blushed again at that, but when he looked at the promising, although irritating green erection in front of him, his mouth watered and he licked his lips again in a very sensual way, which made Stork shudder.

“Care to learn something new?”

But before Finn had time to answer that question, Stork had leaned in again to lick his nearly fully aroused cocked from base to tip, which drew a deep groan out of the boy. But the sensation didn’t repeat itself and at one point Finn understood what was expected of him. He tried to mimic the move as well as he could and he grinned at the reaction it brought him. Not only was it now Stork’s turn to moan uncontrolled, but the tip of the erection in front of him started leaking in obvious anticipation.

He was curious about the first taste and cautiously took a first nip. Over the course of the last month since the fatal kiss he’d shared with Stork he had experimented a little, but one of the first things he’d tried was to taste his own semen. 

Actually, he hadn’t liked it very much. It had been salty and bitter and it grossed him out a little to taste himself, but somehow he still felt it very erotic to taste one’s partner that way. 

He was astonished when Storks first fluids tasted like the sweetest nectar to his lips. If the main course would taste anything like that he couldn’t wait for the swallowing part. This time Finn took to the task with much enthusiasm and all embarrassment was forgotten. Stork, who had been surprised and happy to see that change in the other boy couldn’t do much more than hold on for the ride. 

They challenged each other with as much nipping, licking and sucking as they could concentrate on while getting the same treatment in return. It felt like heaven to both of them and as Finn suddenly smirked, deliberately gripped one of Storks ankles to suck on his big toe, the Merb not only climaxed instantly, but decided right away, that this couldn’t be a one night stand.

While Stork lay there enjoying his aftershocks and getting licked clean by his new lover, who wore a big, self-confident grin on his lips, he not only made plans how best to pay the boy back for this, but also how to make him come back for more.


	3. Back to the New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you need a fresh start.

*~*~*

The world on the other side looked exactly the same as before, as if they hadn’t left it and stayed away for over a year. As far as they knew, no more than a month or two had passed in their absence.

They had reached their destination with the Condor, five other former Federation ships and with it the rest of the Cyclonian race. They had brought as much as they could carry, from food, metals and crystals to memories in form of books and photos.

They hadn’t been able to win against the Federation after all. They had hoped they would be able to change the world – but they had learnt there wasn’t anything they could do for the Cyclonian kids back in Atmos.

It had not been an easy decision to make. Atmos was their home world even though none of them seemed to recognize it anymore. Every one of them had to make the decision for themselves. 

The Cyclonians didn’t have much choice in the end. Even if Dark Ace or Lark had wanted to stay, it would only have been a matter of time until they were caught and executed. Besides they were the leaders of the kids and even Lark couldn’t ward of her duty any longer.

The decision for the members of the Storm Hawks was more difficult to make. 

Although Aerrow knew he would follow his lover anywhere, his pride had taken massive damage by his lack of opportunities to defeat the Federation. At least he knew that it felt exactly the same for his lover and so his obligation to the kids won. 

Radarr would go where Aerrow led him. He was, after all, not only his friend, but his pet too. He liked it that way. Although he knew Aerrow would let him go, if he wished to leave, he considered himself a free soul with his own will. He had felt alone when Aerrow had started to date Dark Ace, but he wanted his friend to be happy, so he tried to accept it with as much grace and good will as he could muster.

The same went for Piper, although she probably didn’t follow Aerrow as a primary reason. There were strange feelings growing in her for Lark and she wouldn’t have been able to leave her now that she finally found not only a first female friend, but someone who was as intelligent as her and as devoted to crystals, tactics and knowledge. All of those things were addicting to both of them, so they decided to stay with each other, not knowing that this would soon grow into so much more.

Junko had visited his home Terra incognito for one last time. It was probably the saddest fate of all, because the Wallopps had started to fight against the Cyclonians at the end as they had wished to earlier. When Junko left them the last time, he had been an outcast, because they had fought on the Cyclonian’s side. Now that they fought on the side of the Federation, Junko still couldn’t go back. So he visited the land a last time, before embracing his girlfriend and their new born son and going away with them, without turning back.

Finn and Stork, who actually still had this strange kind of relationship going on between them, (nobody had imagined that something dreadful like that could happen at all) had both needed more time to make their decision. Both of them hadn’t liked the world in the other dimension very much. Stork constantly complained about the lack of dangers there and the lack of what he called good ‘Doom-Literature’. 

Finn didn’t like the lack of fans, now that he’d finally managed to accomplish getting fans. If he had taken the side of the Federation, they probably would have welcomed him with open arms. But in the end, neither of them could do it. They had seen too much, and both of them still wanted to be the good guys.

*~*~*

They managed to find a new and unoccupied Terra for themselves, which suited their needs just fine. It had tropical temperatures, a beach, fertile soil, palms and other trees and a massive volcanic area, to supply them with needed crystals and metals. But the best part was that they did not need to live deep under the surface anymore.

Even suffering through their – at least for some of them - very first sunburns couldn’t stop their euphoric joy over that fact. Their nation needed a new start, and this place would give them the possibilities and the freedom to do so.

They built something resembling a city, because they were used to living in narrow quarters, but soon they began to built second huts right on the beach, near the mountains or the fields, where they worked.

The older kids, under the guidance of Dark Ace and Aerrow, worked mainly as supervisors for their different needs as before, but a few of them founded something like a police force, army and diplomatic group combined into one. They did everything to prevent themselves from making the same mistakes from their past. They were cured of the wish to fight against other nations. All of them had had enough of that already, probably for the rest of their lives.

Of course they still trained to stay in shape and of course they also had to fight against the occasional feral beast now and then. But life there was still mostly peaceful and they would do anything to guarantee that it would stay that way.

*~*~*

“Zero? Love? Where are you?”

Aerrow was still panting, because he had run all the way to their hut when he had seen their window of opportunity. Now he tried to waste as little time as he could to reach his partner.

“Aerrow? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at the flying lessons?”

“We quit early today, because of Gunnar’s birthday. You didn’t forget about it again, did you?”

Aerrow chided Dark Ace softly. When he followed his lover’s voice into their living room he finally found him on the couch, working on his notes for the language lessons. Dark Ace had decided to write a new manual, because the old one was just too old fashioned and bore too many bad memories for most of them.

Aerrow greeted his lover with a soft and chaste kiss on the lips, while Dark Ace finally sighed. “Yes, I did forget it again.”

“But we will go to the party, right?”

“Of course. Every birthday should be celebrated, but under these circumstances especially those who initiate maturity.”

Dark Ace sighed again, then rubbed his eyes and leant back on the cushions of the comfy sofa, while Aerrow sat next to him and rubbed his sore shoulders.

“Tired?”

“Yes. Diplomacy’s really not my strong side and I keep thinking about the negotiations tomorrow.”

“Don’t think too little of yourself. You are doing your best and that will be more than enough. Besides…” Aerrow grinned broadly “Your lover might know one or two ways to relieve you of that pent up tension…”

Dark Ace returned the kiss with enthusiasm, as Aerrow lent in, but when Aerrow started to explore the skin under his shirt, he stopped him with a scolding look.

“Anaris could be home any minute now and Radarr too. Know perfectly well this will have to wait until tonight as usual …”

“See, that’s where you’re wrong.” Aerrow’s grin only broadened. “Because I saw Anaris and Radarr meet up with some of their friends to work at the party. And I’m pretty sure they won’t be back before the party starts, because we both did a great job with integrating the boy in spite of him having been born as a ‘Poloch’. So, that means… lots of time for inventive and surprising physical activities in the bedroom…”

At that revelation Dark Ace started grinning too before growling “I think I might like birthday parties even more now …” and he instantly started plundering Aerrow’s mouth again before he finally asked, his breath heavy,

“So spill it! What did you have in mind?”

Aerrow looked sheepish before he answered:

“I want to take care of you, so it’s your decision.”

“But you have some suggestions I take it?”

Aerrow pretended to think hard about it, before finally answering: “What about another rock-experience? I remember you telling me, that you liked the view…”

The rock-experience Aerrow was referring to had been a date on a rock, which overlooked the sea and the new village from a very quiet point. They had an excellent picnic there and afterwards had bared only their erections to the cool night air to get two magnificent reciprocal blowjobs, which burned some of their brain cells for good.

Dark Ace smirked in reminiscence, but finally contradicted: “I liked the view of the stars in the night-sky, not the boring ocean, and besides, I don’t want to do it there when it’s still day and when so many habitants of this Terra can use skimmers to disturb us and find us in a compromising position.”

“No exhibitionistic tendencies today?” Aerrow mocked him.

“No. You said something about relaxing, not getting more exited.” Dark Ace chided softly before leaning in to steal another pair of sweet kisses, before resuming their musings.

“We could try again to do it while flying on my skimmer…”

At that suggestion Dark Ace groaned shielding his eyes.

“Don’t make me remember that one. It was way too humiliating the first time, trying to think of an explanation for why the two flying teachers managed to crash on the new school with both their flies still open. I really don’t want to repeat that special experience, thank you very much!”

Aerrow considered that pouting. “I still think it could be a really great experience if I could learn to keep flying instead of crashing… But okay. Perhaps another time. And I think food sex is out of question too, since you complained about the mess we made for two whole weeks afterwards…” Aerrow kept thinking hard, but finally he got aware of the huge grin on his lovers face. “Or do you want to have food sex with me again?”

“Of course not. But I just got the perfect idea…”

Aerrow was curious: “Something kinky?”

“No, not today. Some people might consider it boring, but you did mention helping me relax, so…”

“Bring it on. Whatever it is, I’ll be game.” Aerrow looked eager and Dark Ace finally stood and offered him his hand to guide him to another room.

Aerrow’s face fell, when he was led to their bedroom, but tried not to show it too much. Although he was a little bored with the fact that they had spent most of their love life in this room because of Anaris and Radarr living with them and they not wanting them to walk in on them, he had been serious, when he had offered to relax his lover. 

He knew how much Dark Ace kept demanding from himself – especially at the diplomatic negotiations with the other nations. Most of the time he was a perfectionist and way too self-critical with what he did.

“I want a sensual massage from you.”

Aerrow looked a little surprised at that, but then smiled kindly at his lover, before leaning in to kiss him softly and chaste on his closed lips.

“Your wish will be my pleasure.”

Dark Ace looked surprised at his lover, because he knew that Aerrow usually preferred more exciting ways of sex. In some things he was still only a teenager and Dark Ace normally liked to get caught up in his young lover’s more adventurous moods. 

Still, he really would like some slow and lazy lovemaking right now, to get his mind of the strenuous negotiations the next day would hold for him and the party which would take place this night. He especially wanted it because they were alone for once and in no danger to get disturbed too soon. Somehow Aerrow seemed to have understood that without having been told, which was a pleasure to discover.

“So, how do you want to start this? Or should I look out for the details?”

Dark Ace considered the question and then smiled when he made a decision:

“I’ll give myself to your valuable hands. Do with me as you please, just make it as sensual and relaxing as you can.”

Aerrow returned the smile with a twinkle in his eye.

“I’ll need a few minutes to prepare some things. Do you want to undress while waiting or do you want me to assist you with taking your clothes off later on?”

Dark Ace smiled at that, sat on their bed and leaned back, his arms crossed behind his back, closing his eyes. 

That was enough answer for Aerrow, as he smiled secretly to himself and went to run a hot bubble bath in their bathroom. He knew how much his lover likes baths, so he thought that would be a good start for relaxing him. He watched the water like a hawk, so it would have the temperature Dark Ace usually preferred.

When he returned to the bedroom a sly smile tugged at corner of Dark Ace’s mouth, so he asked him to stand up again. As soon as he’d followed the order Aerrow started undressing him as slowly and sensually as he could. He didn’t rush it like usual, with buttons flying anywhere and fibres getting torn, when his need was too imminent for patience. This time, he opened button by button, pausing to kiss and softly stroke the exposed patches of milky skin. 

Of course he spared the parts were Dark Ace obviously wanted to guide him, because he knew he wouldn’t be able to fulfil his promise if he touched him there too soon.

He took an extra long time cherishing his lover’s fingers, because he’d learned a while before, how sensitive they were to Dark Ace. The dark haired man was very intent on visual stimuli, although he seemed to have a weakness for Aerrow’s voice in the throws of passion and his touching sense on his fingers as well.

Aerrow even managed to tear out a moan of the usual silent man when tending to his thumb, but he tried not to show his smugness about that too much, because the man could get back at him pretty fast. From experience Aerrow knew that Dark Ace could be a mean tease, especially if he was making love with an impatient teen.

After a while Aerrow gave the fingers of Dark Ace’s right hand a last, promising lick, before taking the now naked man by the same hand and guiding him into the bathroom.

When he had put him safely into the tub, Aerrow made signs to leave the room again. Dark Ace asked irritated,

“Won’t you join me?” 

His lover sounded slightly miffed at that and disappointed, but Aerrow smiled at him reassuringly: “Not yet. I’ll need to prepare some things in our bedroom for later. I’ll be back in a few. Just try to relax a little while; I’ll attend to your needs as quickly as I can.”

Dark Ace lifted a surprised brow in silent question at this unusual behaviour in his lover, but then just shrugged it off and leaned back, closing his eyes again. The hot water was doing wonders for his tense muscles, as it always did, and in his mind he praised the boy for thinking of this. As he’d made his request, he had thought they would start right away with the message, to get at the juicy parts, but in fact he liked it this way much better. 

He had been very tense and he really wanted to be a little pampered by his partner. He’d never felt such a need before, but with Aerrow he’d learned that there was no need for him to always act strong. He was allowed to show weakness and Aerrow never condemned him for it. Dark Ace had never thought he was even able to let himself go in such a fashion, but his relationship with Aerrow was doing wonders not only on his ability to express his feelings, but on his damaged soul as well.

When Aerrow finally came back to the bathroom – Dark Ace had been too lost in his musings to have said how long the preparations had occupied the teen’s time – he brought a large sponge with him.

That made the black-haired man smile broadly and Aerrow grinned asking: 

“Judging by your smile I’m doing fine so far. Now relax and let me do this for you, alright?”

Dark Ace smiled dreamily and felt the sponge getting dipped into the water surrounding his chest. From there Aerrow started to wash his shoulders and arms, barely touching him and very sensual. His young lover took his time there too, once and again letting the water drip on his sensitive skin by squeezing it out of the washcloth, stroking him again and again, although he still managed to avoid too much sexual stimulation yet. 

He did clean all of his body but some places rather more efficiently than sensually. That brought him another questioning raised eyebrow, so he hurried to explain: “Not yet. I don’t know how good I can behave if I have your erection in my field of view all the time.” Dark Ace acknowledged that with an amused glint in his eyes by a slight nod and a sigh as Aerrow continued his ministrations.

Somewhere along the way he even started to put shampoo on his lover’s hair and gave him a pleasant head-massage. Dark Ace wondered where the boy had learnt it, but then he remembered that Piper often had problems with head-aches. So Aerrow had probably learned this kind of massage to do her a favour, good leader and friend as he was to his team. This promised way more and Dark Ace started to get really excited for his massage.

But first, the rest of the washing went on and on and right when Dark Ace felt himself drift off to sleep he heard his lover whisper at his ear: “Would you prefer to take a little nap? I would understand it and I won’t pout or bitch about it, I promise…”

To Dark Ace’s surprise the teen sounded serious and earnest, so he reassured him with a deep kiss by grabbing his neck and pulling him in for it.

“Don’t be stupid. I’ll get enough sleep as soon as I’m dead. For now, I’d prefer my lover to take care of me.”

Aerrow seemed relieved, which amused Dark Ace to no end. Still he was astonished how serious the boy was taking all this. Once again he wondered when his life had taken such a great turn, that he earned this special person as his partner. 

But he didn’t have much time for musings as Aerrow stood now, making a face at his obviously sore knees from kneeing beside the tub, and opened a real big fluffy towel for him.

Dark Ace stood, left the tub and let himself get swallowed by this immense mass of fabric, while Aerrow started to rub him dry. Now Dark Ace felt really pampered and he just had to pull his lover in for some more grateful kisses. Aerrow first looked surprised but soon followed his lead and he let the towel fall where they stood to lead the older man back to their bedroom still kissing.

The changes in the bedroom made Dark Ace finally break the kiss in astonishment, as he took a closer look around. Aerrow had darkened the room by hanging some heavy curtains for the window, blocking the sunlight out. Usually they both preferred to enjoy the daylight, especially after having lived under the earth for over a year, but this change made the room even more cosy and dimmed light always guaranteed some romantic moments. 

The light was very pleasant too and as he looked around Dark Ace counted three different light sources powered by crystals, which bathed the room in a warm, golden glow. As he looked around Aerrow took some steps over to one of the shelves and lighted an actual candle, which would make the room smell of roses.

As he searched the floor for any flowery evidence – it would have been the romantic highlight of this whole scene – his lover embraced him and whispered in his ear:

“I know how much you hate to destroy nature without any purpose. So I would never use rose petals unless I wanted to tease you. We have to confine ourselves to the smell.”

That earned Aerrow another kiss as they made their way to the equally prepared bed: He’d taken the comforter off and had placed lots of towels on it instead. Dark Ace was a practical man and since this would likely be a mess and they probably wouldn’t have time to change the sheets before they had to leave for the party, this would be the easiest way.

Dark Ace laid down on the towels with grace, making an inviting motion to Aerrow, who shook his head in denial. 

“Turn to your belly; I’ll start on your back and neck. We’ll get to your front soon enough.”

Dark Ace nodded his consent and turned over, crossing his arms under his head and letting his eyes close instantly and somehow relaxing fiercely. He trusted Aerrow with everything, a feeling he had only recently discovered. He would take care of him.

And Aerrow did. The head-massage back in the bathroom had been nothing compared to what the teen really knew how to do. Tomorrow, if his brain started working again after the shock of this intense pleasure and when he was able to articulate again, he would ask the boy where he had learned this or if he was just a natural. But whatever the answer would be – this wouldn’t be the last time he’d ask for this special pleasure.

The massage had started on his neck and shoulders, much like his bath and then wandered down for what seemed like hours over his back and made a sharp jump to his legs, which tore more than one heartfelt groan out of his mouth. Aerrow’s hands worked their way up to his backside again; giving the cheeks they found there much needed attention. 

Dark Ace’s body didn’t know if it should relax or tense with the intense sexual pleasure which started to get woken inside it. 

The older man nearly howled with anger as the hands suddenly left his body which seemed to burn for more of those intoxicating touches. He growled dangerously as he felt Aerrow crawl toward his head and lean down to whisper,

“I think it’s time for you to turn over now, love, so I can get started on the front!”

“No!” Dark Ace growled, his eyes still closed. Aerrow was taken aback. What the hell had gotten into his lover? “Why not?” Now the eyelids shot up and the red orbs stared at him in a total incredulous fashion: “Because I want you to fuck me, of course.”

“What?” Aerrow was dumbstruck. Had he heard him right? That was the first time ever that Dark Ace asked him for that special pleasure and if he was honest, he hadn’t thought he would ever hear these words out of his lover’s mouth. He had thought so at the beginning, but he hadn’t minded when it just didn’t happen. He had been quite content with the way things were, and he didn’t mind his lover’s obvious inability to give him this special pleasure back.

“You heard me right, Aerrow and I won’t repeat this. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, but…” Dark Ace was still growling and Aerrow hurried to interrupt him: “Of course I want to! I just thought you’d never ask me to do you, so I was just surprised.”

He hurried back on the bed to his earlier position trying to keep the exited shiver out of his voice when he asked: “So what position…”

“I won’t move an inch from this place, so this position will have to do.”

“But in that position I won’t get to your cock to…” Aerrow still wanted to make this as special a night for his lover as he could.

Dark Ace sighed softly before whispering: “Come here.” Despite his earlier words he did move now, when he pulled Aerrow in a lying position right beside him before he shut him up with another reassuring kiss. Then he looked him right in the eyes, searching for the right words to explain.

“Look, in spite of what you think, this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done this. I… I’ve been hurt in the past by someone. Not physically, but emotionally and that’s why this was so hard for me to offer you. But I do enjoy it, and I will be fine lying there and taking it. Just go as slowly as you can, don’t I want to end this too soon. We’ll do this in better positions other times, but right now I just want to lie here and let myself enjoy your ministrations. Okay?”

Aerrow nodded, reassured and then put a sweet kiss on Dark Ace’s nose. That made the man grumble at him annoyed, but then Aerrow kissed him chastely on the lips before murmuring: “Thank you for your trust.”

Then he got up to prepare his lover as thorough as he knew. When he finally did sink in to his lovers heat he felt like he was losing himself in the other man, knowing for the first time that this was real, that he wouldn’t lose him anymore.

Both came so hard that afternoon they saw stars.

*~*~*

The party had been as loud and as annoying as ever. The kids all loved birthday parties and enjoyed them even more now that they were really free. All birthdays were celebrated by everyone, but the real important ones, like the round ones or the ones which indicate maturity, needed special celebrations.

They had been singing dancing and eating for most of the night with everybody, but now most of them started to get really tired. Some of the younger kids were even falling asleep. At those occasions they used to sleep together on the floor of the market place right under the stars. Back on Cyclonia they’d all slept in the big hall where they ate, but when they came here all of them longed for the stars.

Now everyone else prepared their sleeping bags to finish the feast in the proper manner. The Storm Hawks used those occasions to sleep together as well, since they lived all their own lives now even if they still worked together a lot. Only Piper, Lark and Dark Ace where nowhere to be seen yet and everyone else worked together making jokes and laughing a lot. 

Junko and Anna had already lain down and were fast asleep, their little boy enclosed securely between their embrace, so the slightly cooler night-air wouldn’t harm him.

Stork was bitching loudly at Finn like usually because sleeping on the floor was everything but a wise idea if fearing the attack of mind worms. But Finn seemed to be deaf to all the complaints and worked in silence preparing their twin sleeping bag. Like everyone else he knew that this was mainly for show and that Stork would eventually give in. He’d never once slept a night alone since they had started this… affair between them, and he seriously doubted that this would change anytime soon. Their sex-life was way too much fun for that.

Radarr helped Aerrow with their four sleeping bags while Dark Ace found their sleeping place and carried the already unconscious form of Anaris to them. The boy had fallen asleep earlier with their friends, but they knew he wouldn’t like it if he woke and found them nowhere in sight, so Dark Ace had gone to fetch him. The older man placed the boy into one of the twin bags before Radarr rolled around him to keep him warm. Dark Ace closed the bag and came over to his own sleeping place that Aerrow had prepared. 

Aerrow was the only one who saw the slight change in his lover’s face which spoke of discomfort as he sat down, so he leaned over and gave him a happy kiss to make it better. Dark Ace rolled his eyes when Aerrow wiggled his eyebrows and decided not to comment on it. The boy would pay for it later, the next time he was getting some.

Right when they had snuggled down together in their respective sleeping bags Piper and Lark came over to them. To the surprise of those who were still awake they were holding hands and – Dark Ace groaned again – giggling, obviously induced by the consummation of alcohol. 

Without another word they reached down and zipped their separate sleeping bags together as one big one. More incredulous staring followed that, and the silence was deafening when both girls crawled into it, shifting a while before finding a good position to sleep in while holding each other.

It was finally Dark Ace who broke the silence: “What. The. Hell.”

Lark answered that question, with a challenge in her eyes: “What is it? Do you think you’re the only one who could catch a Storm Hawk? I have bad news for you, you aren’t.”

“You’ve never been into girls before, if I remember correctly.”

“No, I haven’t, but I’m into Piper now. We had to console each other over the loss of you two, so by accident I learned what a hot cocoon Piper creates while sleeping. And since I’m always too cold, as you know, I got addicted to that heat. Problem solved. Best relationship ever. Now go to sleep, we want to kiss for a while and won’t need any spectators.”

That made everyone else groan and hurry to get to sleep. Only Finn had to make another comment.

“Seriously, I’ll never understand girls!”

*~*~*

Endless End

Finished 18th October 2009

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got inspired by a fanfiction which is called “The last letter”. The story made me think about the Cyclonians as a nation (not just the ‘bad guys’) with history and an own language and stuff. I wanted to thank the author for such a great story, which I did in my own way – by writing a new story as a thank you for the fandom.
> 
> You can read the story here https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5343259/1/The-Last-Letter


End file.
